‘Our new government must now avoid policing by press release’ [Video]

POLICING POLICY IS determined by the Government and applied through the Minister for Justice to the Garda Commissioner. The historical record provides little by way of narrative from successive ministers or commissioners.

The press release sent by ministers on policing matters invariably starts with a self-congratulatory phrase, “The Minister welcomes the Introduction of (Something), which represents a major step forward in protecting the Public and reforming the Gardaí”.

This forgets for a moment that the initiative in question is a product of the minister’s own department, a product of the minister’s own thinking. This latest initiative (whatever it is) has not been handed down in tablets of stone, this press release is the politician spinning the story well in advance of independent analysis. The dopamine-generating words are, New, Reform, Groundbreaking, Radical, Modernise and Independent.

Shadows of the recent past

In 2014 a crisis rocked the Department of Justice and the Garda Síochána. Then minister Alan …