Garda Síochána
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Image:Garda Police Ireland.jpg Image:Garda.jpg Garda Síochána na hÉireann (English: "Guardians of the Peace of Ireland", originally called the "Civic Guard"), commonly known as the Garda Síochána or simply Garda or Gardaí, is the national police agency of the Republic of Ireland. The force is headed by the Garda Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Government. Its headquarters are located in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.
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Terminology
As a force the term Garda is used, whilst the plural Irish word gardaí is used when referring to members of the force collectively. The guards is often used colloquially. A female officer was once officially referred to as a bangharda, but this term is less common now, and an officer, male or female, is usually simply called a garda or "guard".
Organisation
The force is headed by the Commissioner. His immediate subordinates are the two Deputy Commissioners, who are in charge respectively of Strategic and Resource Management and Operations. Strategic and Resource Management primarily deals with national organisational and technical matters and does not deal with crime directly, the majority of operational and staffing matters coming under Operations. There are ten Assistant Commissioners: six are geographically based, and the others are assigned to various national support roles. A civilian Director of Finance is placed at a similar organisational level to the Assistant Commissioners.
The six geographical Assistant Commissioners command the six force Regions, currently Dublin Metropolitan, Eastern, Northern, Southern, South-Eastern and Western Regions. Below the Assistant Commissioners are approximately twenty-five Chief Superintendents, who supervise Divisions. Each Division contains a number of Districts, each of which is commanded by a Superintendent, who is assisted by a number of Inspectors. Each District has a number of Subdistricts, which are usually commanded by Sergeants.
Typically each Subdistrict contains only one station. A varying number of Gardai will be based at each station depending on its importance. Most of these hold the basic rank of Garda, which was referred to as the rank of Guard until 1972 (the equivalent of Constable in British police forces). The most junior members of the force are Students, whose duties vary depending on their training progress and who are often given clerical duties if assigned to a station when not in college.
The force also has approximately 1,000 civilian support staff, including a Chief Medical Officer. These civilian posts include a diverse range of professionals, such as administrative staff, accounting staff, drivers, information technology staff, photographers, researchers and teachers.
An unarmed force
Uniformed members of An Garda Síochána do not carry firearms. It is a tradition of the service that standard policing should be carried out in both rural and urban areas by uniformed officers equipped only with a wooden truncheon. The force when originally created was armed, but in a u-turn the Provisional Government decided to reverse the decision and reconstitute the force as an unarmed police force, in contrast to the refusal of the British Dublin Castle administration which had refused appeals from the Royal Irish Constabulary that that force be disarmed.<ref name=Garvin>Template:Cite book</ref>In the words of first Commissioner, Michael Staines, TD, "The Garda Síochána will succeed not by force of arms or numbers, but on their moral authority as servants of the people". According to Garvin such a decision gave the new force a cultural ace: "the taboo on killing unarmed men and women who could not reasonably be seen as spies and informers."<ref name=Garvin />
According to a recent government report, 3,000 (out of 12,000) members of the force are armed — this would include the Emergency Response Unit and Special Branch as well as the majority of detectives.
The Scott Medal
The Scott Medal for Bravery is the highest honour for bravery and valour which can be awarded to a member of the Garda Síochána. The first medals were funded by Colonel Walter Scott, an honorary Commissioner of the New York Police Department. <ref name=Walter>Template:Cite web</ref>To mark the United States link, the American English spelling of valor is used on the medal. The Commissioner of An Garda Síochána chooses the recipients of the medal, which is presented by the Minister for Justice.
In 2000, Anne McCabe, widow of Garda Jerry McCabe, who was murdered by the Provisional IRA while it was officially on ceasefire, accepted the Scott Medal for Bravery that had been awarded posthumously to her husband.<ref name=examiner> Template:Cite web</ref>
History
The Civic Guard was formed by the Provisional Government in February 1922 to take over the responsibility of policing the fledgling Irish Free State. It replaced the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and the extra-legal Irish Republican Police. In August 1922 the force accompanied Michael Collins when he met the Lord Lieutenant in Dublin Castle.<ref>According to Irish constitutional theory he met the Lord Lieutenant to accept the surrender of Dublin Castle. However, as far as the British government were concerned, the purpose of the meeting was for the Lord Lieutenant to formally appoint Collins as Chairman of the Provisional Government.</ref>
The Garda Síochána Act (also known as the Temporary Provisions Act) enacted after the creation of the Irish Free State on the 8 August 1923,<ref> Template:Cite web</ref> provided for the creation of "a force of police to be called and known as 'The Garda Síochána'". Under section 22, The Civic Guard were deemed to have been established under and to be governed by the Act. The law therefore effectively renamed the existing force.
In Dublin, policing remained the responsibility of the capital's own local police force, the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) until 1925. In that year the DMP merged with the Garda Síochána, and since then the Garda has been the only police force in the state now known as the Republic of Ireland.
Garda Commissioners
The first Commissioner, Michael Staines, who was a Pro-Treaty member of Dáil Éireann, held office for only eight months. It was his successors, Eoin O'Duffy and Éamon Broy, who played a central role in the development of the force. Broy had greatly assisted the IRA during the Anglo-Irish War, while serving with the DMP. O'Duffy later became a short-lived political leader of the quasi-fascist Blueshirts before heading to Spain to fight alongside Francisco Franco's Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. Broy's fame grew in the 1990s when he featured in the film Michael Collins, in which it was misleadingly suggested that he had been murdered by the British during the War of Independence, when in reality he lived for decades and headed the Garda Síochána from 1933 to 1938.
One later Commissioner, Edmund Garvey was sacked by the Fianna Fáil government of Jack Lynch in 1978 without reason, other than a claim that the government had lost confidence in him. He won 'unfair dismissal' legal proceedings against the government. The case made its way to the Supreme Court which found the action of the government improper. This outcome required the passing of the Garda Síochána Act, 1979 to retrospectively validate the actions of Garvey's successor since he had become Commissioner. <ref> Template:Cite web</ref> His successor in turn, Patrick McLoughlin, was forced to resign along with his deputy in 1983 over his peripheral involvement in a political scandal.The current commissioner is Noel Conroy.
Allegations against An Garda Síochána
Traditionally the perception of the force within Ireland has been positive, especially when compared to the Royal Ulster Constabulary; however several scandals have undermined it.
General
Like most police forces there have been many allegations of:
- Discourtesy
- Harassment
- Aggressive interrogation techniques
- Perjury
- Confiscating a person's property but using it for their own purposes.
While most allegations have not been proven, many out of court settlements have been made in favour of complainants.
Sallins Mail Train Robbery
One of the first charges of serious impropriety against the force rose out of the handling of the Sallins Train Robbery (March 1976); this case eventually lead to a serious miscarriage of justice and accusations of a "Heavy Gang" operating within the force which intimidated and tortured the accused. This eventually led to a Presidential pardon for one of the accused.
Kerry Babies
Several less high profile scandals, for instance the Kerry Babies Tribunal, occurred over the next decade or so which further tarnished the force's reputation.
Frank McBrearty
In the 1990s and early 2000s An Garda Síochána faced a series of allegations, including suggestions of corrupt and dishonest policing in County Donegal (which is the subject of a judicial inquiry, the Morris Tribunal). The Morris Tribunal found that some County Donegal gardaí had invented an IRA informer, made bombs and claimed credit for locating them, and framed a Donegal night-club owner for drug-dealing and Raphoe publican Frankie McBrearty for manslaughter — the latter case was recently settled in a €1.5m settlement with the State.
Eddie Fullerton
The family of Eddie Fullerton, a Buncrana Sinn Féin councillor killed in his home by members of the Ulster Defence Association in 1991, have criticised the Gardaí's handling of the investigation and in 2005 they started a campaign for an inquiry.
Abbeylara Shooting
On April 20, 2000 members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU) shot dead 27 year old John Carthy during a day-long siege at his home in Toneymore, Abbeylara, County Longford. There were allegations made of inappropriate handling of the situation and of the overuse of armed force by the Gardaí; a "shoot to kill" policy. This led to a Garda inquiry and subsequent Oireachtas Committee Inquest (the Barr Tribunal). The constitutionality of this inquest was successfully challenged in the High Court and subsequently, the Supreme Court by members of the ERU. As of 2006, the Barr Tribunal is ongoing. [1] [2]
Prime Time 2004
In 2004, an RTÉ Prime Time documentary accused elements within the Garda of abusing their powers by physically assaulting people arrested. A retired Circuit Court judge (W. A. Murphy) suggested that some members of the force had committed perjury in criminal trials before him, while a Minister of State (Dick Roche) (junior government minister) accused police in one instance of "torture". The Garda Commissioner accused the television programme of lacking balance.
Reclaim the Streets Demonstration 2004
The Prime Time documentary followed hot on the heels of footage published by the Independent Media Centre Ireland showing attacks by Gardai on Reclaim the Streets demonstrators.<ref NAME=indymedia>Template:Cite web</ref> One Garda shown in this footage was later convicted of assault, while several other Gardaí were acquitted of this offense.
Policing Abroad
Since 1989 An Garda Síochána has undertaken United Nations peace-keeping duties. Its first such mission was a 50 strong contingent sent to Namibia. Since then the force has acted in Angola, Cambodia, Cyprus, Mozambique, South Africa and the former Yugoslavia. The force's first fatality, whilst working abroad, was Sergeant Paul M. Reid, who was fatally injured while on duty with the United Nations UNPROFOR at "Sniper's Alley" in Sarajevo on 18 May, 1995.
References
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See also
- Criminal Assets Bureau
- Garda Síochána College
- GUBU
- Irish Army Rangers
- Police Service of Northern Ireland
- Royal Ulster Constabulary
External links
- Official site - An Garda Síochána
- History of Irish police forces
- Garda Complaints Board
- Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin
- Garda Museum, Dublin Castle
- Garda Síochána mission statement on community policing
- Morris Tribunal
- Report on the controversial shooting by armed detectives of John Carthy
- Garda Síochána Act, 2005es:Garda Síochána