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Legal talks on garda use of ethnic records

Gardaí used COVID-19 enforcement powers in 859 incidents, from 8 April to 5 December, according the  Policing Authority’s tenth annual report.

In excess of 30,000 checkpoints were conducted since the start of November, representing a significant increase of activity during the level-five restrictions.

There were in excess of 120,000 checkpoints since 11 May.

The majority of these were carried out in the initial lockdown, with approximately 10,000 checkpoints per week in May, and again during level-five restrictions, with almost 6,000 per week.

Level-five breaches

Since 28 June, An Garda Síochána have reported:

• Nine incidents relating to breaches regarding face coverings,
• Five incidents relating to breaches regarding international travel,
• A total of 74 incidents relating to other breaches (for example, organising events).

Galway and Cavan/Monaghan remain the two divisions with the highest number of incidents.

In the report, the Policing Authority chair Bob Collins says that the “tone” of policing  had a significant impact on the community’s experience, and made the intrusions into daily life “somehow more palatable”.

However, the report warns that “the seemingly spontaneous emergence of a tone of policing that delivered respectful engagement is not a guarantor of its continuance”.

Goodwill eroded

The report says that some goodwill had been quickly undermined and eroded in certain cases by the “actions of the few”, who have reverted to belittling and aggression.

The Policing Authority report says that there was a huge potential to build on the experience of policing during the virus crisis.

However, whenever restrictions abate and there is a sense of a return to normal, the challenge will be to ensure that the tone does not also return to the ‘old normal’, the report says.

“We have commenced and will continue engaging with the Garda Commissioner and his senior colleagues on how any reversion can be stemmed, and optimal potential can be achieved,” the report says.

‘Unenviable task’

It adds that gardaí had the “unenviable task” of interpreting new regulations; and that frustration from commercial entities might have been offset by earlier engagement with the An Garda Síochána.

The report says that the recording of ethnicity in relation to the use of anti-spit hoods is being discussed with the Garda Commissioner and the legal department of An Garda Síochána.

“The authority will continue to oversee this issue and assess progress being made,” it says.

The practice of recording ethnic indicators is common in other jurisdictions, but has not been the practice of An Garda Síochána, the report points out.