A Joint Policing Committee has been established to give local input into policing in Fingal. I have made some recommendations in relation to the operational programme which is in draft form now. I would be interested in any feedback on this.
Objective 3 of the draft programme is “Advise Fingal County Council & the Garda Siochana and other relevant Agencies on how they might best perform their functions with regard to the need to do everything feasible to improve the safety & quality of life & to prevent crime, disorder & anti-social behaviour within the area.”
However, this objective does not tranfer into the remit of any of the three sub-committees proposed. I would like to recommend that an additional subcommittee be set up.
In addition to working on that general objective, there is the matter of cooperation between law enforcement agencies.
I am conscious of the comment by one of the other members (I can’t remember who) at a previous meeting that Fingal Co.Co. is also a law enforcement agency. There do not seem to be adequate protocols for cooperation between the Council and the Gardaí in relation to enforcement matters which could be handled by either or need to be worked on cooperatively.
Similarly, there is lack of protocols for Fingal to pass on complaints received from the public and vice versa. The areas of waste and road traffic enforcement are good examples of these problems.
Therefore I would like to suggest another sub-committee, which I have drafted up as below in keeping with the format in the draft operational programme. It appears to fit under objective 3, but rather than try to redraft existing sections of the programme, I have drafted as 3A.
Objective
3A. Advise Fingal County Council & the Garda Siochana and other relevant Agencies on how they might best perform their functions with regard to the need to do everything feasible to improve the safety & quality of life & to prevent crime, disorder & anti-social behaviour within the area.
Actions
3A.1 Establish an Enforcement subcommittee to consider the operation of policing and law enforcement in Fingal (including response rates and times)
3A.2 Recommend protocols for contact and passing on of information, complaints etc. between the agencies with responsibility for law enforcement and/or which receive relevant complaints and information from the public. (Garda Síochána, Fingal County Council, EPA, marine agencies)
3A.3 Draft strategic reports to support senior Gardai & FCC decision making.
3A.4 Present reports by Garda at full JPC meetings.
3A.5 Present reports by relevant FCC representatives at full JPC meetings.
3A.6 Include map-based spatial analysis in reports.
Terms of reference & work plan drawn up.
Some smaller points:
Under Objective 1 (Keep under review the levels & patterns of crime, disorder & anti-social behaviour in Fingal (including the patterns & levels of misuse of alcohol & drugs)), I suggest adding two further actions
* Include map-based spatial analysis in reports.
* Enable controlled access to databases for the purposes of investigating patterns of crime.