Policing for the People

Last month, Sinn Féin presented a submission on reform of the Garda Síochána to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

The following is a summary if that proposal. The full submission is available at www.sinnfein.ie.

Every society needs a police service and every legitimate police service needs the support of the communities it serves. For that reason, it is imperative that there is total transparency and trust between the police service and the communities.

The Garda Síochána has remained largely unreformed since its establishment 80 years ago. The Minister for Justice has rightly pointed out that his recently introduced proposals on Garda reform "represent the first major piece of legislative reform of the Garda Síochána since the foundation of the State". With the Government's acknowledgment that reform is necessary, we now have an opportunity to shape the policing of the future for the people of Ireland. It is critical that we get it right.

Sinn Féin wants to see an all-island police service established. In the interim, we want policing services North and South that can attract widespread support from, and that are seen as an integral part of, the host community as a whole. We want effective policing with local democratic accountability, shaped as a community service and imbued with that ethos.

In recent times, public confidence in the Garda Síochána has eroded. Currently, there are two ongoing tribunals investigating serious complaints about Garda misconduct in County Donegal and the shooting of John Carthy. The Gardaí also have major questions to answer regarding their conduct of the investigation of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings and other incidents of collusion in this state, including the murder of Sinn Féin Councillor Eddie Fullerton. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has referred to "a culture of denial that has allowed impunity to spread" - and indeed there is evidence and allegations of Garda and Special Branch misconduct both individual and systemic dating back to the 1970s; off-duty criminal involvement in a range of serious offences including sexual assault; findings of fraud in relation to Garda contracts; and findings that Gardaí have adduced false evidence in Court. Public perception of impunity for misconduct has been confirmed by the repeated failures of the Garda Complaints Board.

Working class communities know only too well that the Gardaí are not succeeding in making their communities safe. Many people in these communities are angry at the failure to respond effectively to growing localised crises, and misallocation of Garda resources.

The Good Friday Agreement promised for the Six Counties a new police service that would be "impartial, representative, free from partisan political control, efficient, infused with a human rights culture, decentralised, and democratically accountable at all levels." The resulting Patten Commission recommendations for the future of policing involve the creation of community-based civic policing with human rights at its core, held accountable through democratic institutions and representative of the community it serves. We believe that citizens of this state deserve nothing less. Just as we believe in the Good Friday Agreement's commitment to jurisdictional equivalence in equality and human rights protections, so too must police reform "harmonise upwards" using the Patten Recommendations as a template for reaching a minimum standard.

The Minister for Justice has dismissed Patten as irrelevant as a model because it was developed to deal with a specific conflict situation. But that is not persuasive. The Patten Recommendations are also now recognised internationally as representing best practice. As such, Sinn Féin accepts that Patten represents an authoritative best practice template for policing in this jurisdiction.

A comprehensive Garda Reform package must support the Gardaí in their evolution towards a best practice service, one which can set the standard globally for efficient, effective and accountable policing with human rights at its core - a policing service enjoying an unprecedented level of community confidence, support, and cooperation. That is our vision. That is the policing service Sinn Féin wants to help realise for the people of this state.

In keeping with this, Sinn Féin recommends the following key interlocking measures for a reform package:

• The setting up of an independent Garda Ombudsman

• The setting up of a civilian Policing Board

• The setting up of Community Policing Partnerships at Garda District level

While we welcome the opportunity to make this submission, it is totally unacceptable that the Minister has not engaged in a proper consultation process on a matter of such huge public interest. This opportunity should not be lost.

Sinn Féin recommends that the Department hold a proper community consultation process on the issue, which should inform the final reform package. This public consultation must be comprehensive and inclusive, consisting of a national series of local public fora including community groups, representatives of marginalised sectors of Irish society, and those with "high contact" and/or special needs in relation to policing services.

Other Recommendations

Among other recommendations Sinn Féin believes the Minister should consider and adopt are:

• Mandatory videotaping at all Garda stations of suspect and witness interviews should be rolled out immediately (this issue has been outstanding since at least 1979).

• The right of access to a lawyer at Garda stations must be brought into line with international best practice (as the Government has been "considering" since 1993).

• The Garda Ombudsman must initiate an investigation into the longstanding allegations that confidential client-solicitor meetings at Garda stations were routinely taped.

• The proposed compulsory human rights training for Gardaí must also include anti-discrimination training, and training on international standards.

• Garda reform legislation should be accompanied by a comprehensive review of resource deployment, equipment, training and procedure (including the Disciplinary Code) to ensure effective best practice policing and to complete a process of modernisation; such a review should have a public consultation component to increase transparency and public confidence.

• There must be a separate review of recruitment and promotion practices with a view to increasing representativeness of the service and promoting gender equality.

• The Policing Board, Commissioner, and Minister should consider options for the civilianisation of appropriate Garda administrative posts.

• Fully trained Gardaí should be relieved of some static duties and a dedicated traffic corps under Garda supervision should also be introduced. However, the Government has neither presented nor proven its case for a Garda Reserve Force. Moreover, a reserve force should never be considered a substitute for meaningful local involvement in decision-making and accountability.

• On general principle, policing services should not be privatised or "outsourced" to private companies. It must be made explicit in law that neither the Commissioner nor the Minister has the authority to privatise policing services.

• The Minister should publicly reconfirm that Gardaí will not, in the normal practice, be equipped with firearms, as is the current case.

• The Minister must publish the report of the Garda Review Group on alternatives to firearms that includes recommendations on the use of "less-than-lethal" weapons by the Gardaí.

• Crime and complaint pattern analysis should be introduced to provide an information-led, problem-solving approach to policing that addresses causes as well as consequences.

• Gardaí should not be dispatched on international missions except as part of an International United Nations Force (a force established and led by the United Nations).

• The Minister must publish the reports of prior Garda Complaints Board and other internal inquiries.

• The Special Detective Unit (Special Branch) should be disbanded and its officers redeployed only following completion of intensive human rights upskilling. For decades this "force within a force" has dominated both the ethos and the management structure of the Gardaí. Using the draconian Offences Against the State Acts, it has violated civil rights and diverted much policing time and resources away from real service to the community.

• The performance of the Emergency Response Unit to date should be reviewed by the Garda Ombudsman, and any conclusions and recommendations made public.

• Immigration processing should be decoupled from the Gardaí, as immigration and seeking asylum from persecution are not crimes. The Garda National Immigration Bureau should only deal with associated security clearance procedures and investigations of suspected violations of the law.