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Source: Report of the Police Authority
THE POLITICAL AUTHORITY has issued a report detailing the number of times Gardaí used enforcement powers in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Northwest Region recorded 242 incidents since April 8 and remains the region with the highest number of incidents where Covid-19 powers were used.
Galway and Cavan / Monaghan remain the two divisions with the highest number of incidents where Gardaí uses Covid-19 regulations, but the Police Authority report says that an “examination of the data at the station level does not identify any problems in the use of powers to be centralized in a locality ”.
Informed use of Covid-19 policing powers by the Garda Division, April 8 to October 31.
Source: Report of the Police Authority
Since April 8, the Garda Síochána has exercised powers under Covid-19 regulations 702 times.
In the last month, there were 103 incidents in which the Gardaí had to use powers under Covid-19 regulations, most of them related to the inspection of authorized facilities.
Garda Síochána has reported more than 50,000 visits to authorized premises, of which approximately 60% were recorded as closed.
Around 3,900 inspections were carried out in the Holiday weekend October 23-26, with 80% of inspected authorized premises registered as closed.
Excluding Operation Navigation, there have been 394 incidents where powers were used under Covid-19 regulations, of which 353 relate to breaches that occurred during the initial lockdown and subsequent surveillance of the pandemic through June 28.
(Operation Navigation is where Garda members run random checks to see if Covid-19 guidelines are being followed, for example in a pub to see if large meals are being served.)
Since June 28, the Garda Síochána has reported the following executions not related to Operation Navigation:
- 8 incidents related to breaches of face coverings;
- 5 incidents related to breaches of international travel;
- 11 incidents of alleged breaches of the regulations by retailers Y,
- 37 incidents related to other offenses (for example, organizing events)
Source: Report of the Police Authority
The use of anti-saliva bells it has also decreased, from 30 times in April and 36 in May, to 6 in September and 5 in October. These bells have been used most frequently in the Dublin Metropolitan Region, accounting for 51 of 118 incidents. In 74 incidents, the Garda member perceived that the detainee showed “obvious signs of intoxication”.
The 15-page report covers through October 31, so it doesn’t cover the full period of the Level 5 restrictions that were introduced on Wednesday, October 21, or the new Garda powers that were introduced last month.
The Garda’s new enforcement powers became law last month: giving them powers to fine people who host house parties or break other Covid restrictions. These are ‘fixed fine notices’, although the Authority says there are “Some work required to actually implement the penalty system”, adding that “it may take some time” before Garda issues one of these fines.
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A control point chart.
Source: Report of the Police Authority
The Police Authority said that deciding what is a essential retailer, policing border counties and monitoring anti-mask protests are among the difficulties faced by the force:
… Complexity has been added through increased competition in what is considered an “essential retailer” with some retailers trying to stay open by stocking items that are considered essential while continuing to sell items that are considered not essential, and confusion in as to which products are essential. This has created an additional avenue for the Garda Síochána to the police, which is not only a challenge of resources, but also a challenge to coherence in police activity, given the lack of definition and degree of interpretation in this area.
… Monitoring the protests is an ongoing challenge for the Garda Síochána, particularly with regard to the protests against the use of face masks and the Covid-19 restrictions themselves. The facilitation of police protests in the context of the pandemic remains a risk. If not managed properly, it presents the possibility of negative engagement between protesters from different sides and between protesters and the Gardaí.
The Authority has repeatedly said that emergency powers for the Gardaí should be “As limited as possible and used with the greatest possible moderation”.
In his report today, he explains the thinking behind this vision: “One of the virtues of the criminal provisions introduced so far has been that they involve the referral by the Garda Síochána to the Director of the Public Ministry. This has been an important source of independent decision-making with respect to emergency powers, and the decisions thus made represent an important framework of rules.
“The fixed penalty notice does not have an integrated control,” he added.
“There may be significant value in its introduction so relatively close to the projected end of the Level 5 stage as a matter of higher consideration.”
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