The Policing Authority welcomes the publication today by the Minister for Justice and Equality of the Inspectorate’s report entitled “Policing with Local Communities”. While the inspection was undertaken contemporaneously with the work of the Commission on the Future of Policing, it will make an important contribution to the ongoing work of Garda reform.

The report examines policing in Ireland at a number of levels and covers a breadth of issues. Among many subjects, it considers the key strategic issues which affect service delivery, resource allocation and utilisation, deployment, local demand for policing and how policing services are delivered at local level. The findings of this report are complemented with a series of recommended Critical Actions which will ensure that policing services in local communities are delivered in an effective, visible and responsive manner. The focus on visibility in the report is welcome, contributing as it does hugely to community confidence and addressing one of the key concerns of Mr. Justice Charleton in the recent report of the Disclosures Tribunal.

A copy of report is available at http://www.gsinsp.ie/