AS GARDAÍ WORK on a new policy on when officers can pursue fleeing vehicles, a Government TD has claimed that drug couriers are taking off their helmets knowing that it will stop the pursuit.
Clare Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe said that there is an urgent need to address the issue and said that motorcyclists wearing balaclavas are using garda uncertainty around pursuit policy.
He claims that the motorcyclists are “leaving off their helmets” – and Gardaí are currently not able to chase them.
“During the summer, I was driving one evening and noticed a scrambler bike on the tail of my car getting closer and closer. I noticed the driver wasn’t wearing a helmet – but a balaclava.
“I’ve seen this a lot more over the summer – it’s happening in Clare and Limerick, where people in balaclavas are driving these dirt bikes and scramblers on roads, off-road, through housing estates, green areas, footpaths and essentially giving the two fingers to the law,” he said.
Crowe said that young people on scramblers are being paid €100-200 a day to ferry drugs from one location to the next.
“The non-wearing of helmets is very deliberate – as Gardaí have been instructed not to pursue a person without a helmet, as it creates the risk that the driver travelling at speed to escape Gardaí could fall off and be killed or seriously injured due to the lack of helmet,” he added.
Crowe has written to Commissioner Drew Harris and is calling for new laws and more robust policing to deal with the issue.
In the UK police officers are permitted in some jurisdictions, such as London, to strike motorcyclists with their cars. The Met Police have claimed that this has reduced “scooter crime” by 36%.
Sources familiar with garda pursuits, known as managed containment operations, told The Journal that gardaí are not permitted to pursue motorcyclists due to safety concerns.
Another source said that there are incidents nationwide involving motorcyclists fleeing gardaí taking off their helmets. It is understood that gardaí are only permitted to pursue if there is well developed information that there is an imminent threat to life, for instance if the motorcyclist is carrying a firearm.
A garda is currently before the courts in connection with an alleged pursuit in which three men died in Dublin.
“It is essential that Gardaí have the full power and right to pursue these individuals if this issue is to be cracked down on,” Crowe added.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, speaking at the reopening of a garda station in Rathcormac, Co Cork, said that a pursuit policy was being worked on by the force.
“We are working through it with the pursuit associations to make sure that when it does arrive that it is appropriate for our operational needs and that appropriate training is put in place as well.
“Pursuit is a very dangerous activity for members of An Garda Síochána to engage in and also for members of the public. We need to get it right.
“We have some dreadful experience in Ireland where pursuits have gone wrong so we need to make sure it is correct,” he said.
Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, did not address directly the concerns of Cathal Crowe but said that she was aware that the policy was being examined.
“This is something being looked at in An Garda Síochána as regards what the protocol and policy is there.
“The overall objective for An Garda Síochána is to keep everyone safe and it is making sure that no one is impacted by a decision that they or anybody else takes – it is a very difficult job they do to make split second decisions and it is important that here is policy in place to help them in doing so,” she said.
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