The Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, is to convene a conference of more than 200 senior officers next month to discuss the introduction of the new computerised information systems and review crime developments, writes Jim Cusack, Security Correspondent.
The conference, at the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary, is understood to be devoted primarily to the implications of policing for the new PULSE computerised informations system.
Some 160 gardai in north central Dublin are working full-time entering data into the PULSE system from stations all around the State. Handwritten forms on crime, firearms and traffic offences are posted to the central collating office via An Post's Swiftpost system. It is expected that gardai will be able to input in formation directly into the system from their own stations.
The increase in crime in the past year, which more than doubled on the previous year but is still well below the levels of the 1980s and early 1990s, is also to be discussed.