GARDA BOSSES ARE carrying out a report examining a plan to stop gardaí attending some non-crime-related incidents such as minor road crashes, The Journal has learned. 

Sources have said Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has appointed a deputy commissioner to examine a number of incident types with a view to streamline responses to headline crime incidents only.

It is understood that the plan is part of a broader strategy of changing the way gardaí deal with minor calls and to free up response units.

Sources have said one of the categories under consideration is material damage-only road traffic collisions. Gardaí attend such crashes, in which no one was injured, to ensure that appropriate insurance details are swapped between drivers but they do not investigate the cause of the collisions.

The garda enters details of the collision onto the force’s computer system PULSE which can then be requested if there is an insurance claim. It is a criminal offence to not provide your details at a collision.

Sources have said that senior gardaí have looked at the amount of time spent on such calls and they believe that these incidents do not need a routine garda response.  

A source was anxious to stress that “gardaí are not moving to the British model – there is no intention of adopting the UK model where minor thefts are not being investigated”.

Some constabularies in Britain do not routinely respond to burglaries and thefts – instead recording the incident and issuing an incident number for an insurance claim.  

A garda spokesperson confirmed in a statement that the organisation was looking at a rationalisation of the types of incidents gardaí respond to on duty.

The spokesperson said that this was in line with the findings of Chapter Nine of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland report in 2018 and as part of the Government’s implementation programme of the Report.

“An Garda Síochána is currently examining non-core duties that should no longer be undertaken by Gardaí in order to free them up for core policing duties, ie preventing and tackling crime.

“The non-core duties identified by the Commission include – some aspects of security at courts, transporting all remand prisoners, serving summonses, prosecuting at district courts, attending minor road traffic accidents, and safeguarding examination papers for schools,” she said. 

The garda spokesperson quoted from the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland and said in relation to minor road collisions that “unless a collision results in injuries or a situation causing a hazard for road users, there should be no need for police to become involved and it is a waste of police resources to do so”.

The spokesperson said: “An Garda Síochána has an obligation under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 to investigate crime. For the avoidance of doubt, this covers all crime. The non-core duty review is not examining ‘minor thefts’.

“An Garda Síochána has no intention of changing its approach to investigating all crime.”