Roads Policing Review Must Be a Catalyst for Real Change
The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) welcomes the publication of the Crowe Independent Review of Roads Policing and is calling on Garda management to deliver on the report’s recommendations to strengthen supervision, reform performance policy, and properly resource the force.
The report, AGSI says, is a hard-hitting wake-up call for An Garda Síochána, and it signals a strategic failure at senior management level.
AGSI says the report reaffirms what it has been raising for years – at conferences, in meetings with Garda management, and with successive Ministers for Justice – that chronic manpower shortages, inadequate training, flawed strategic decisions, and an overemphasis on governance structures have left frontline Gardaí undervalued and unsupported.
AGSI President Declan Higgins said: “The Crowe Report is a hard-hitting wake-up call for An Garda Síochána, but will Garda management see the wood from the trees? In pursuing strategic transformation, An Garda Síochána, under Commissioner Harris’ leadership, has lost focus on the realities of on-the-ground operational policing.
“The Crowe report shows that the Garda Roads Policing Units have a solid, effective core which is deserving of support and praise. However, it also highlights that there is a small minority that is demotivated and clearly demoralised. This demoralisation within An Garda Síochána has been ignored by Garda management and overseeing agencies for far too long,” says AGSI President, Declan Higgins.
AGSI says the report’s findings on morale, resourcing, and performance supervision are not isolated to Roads Policing, but are indicative of larger, organisation-wide issues.
The Association points to:
- Failings in recruitment and retention of experienced members causing resource shortages at every rank;
- Training gaps that hinder operational effectiveness;
- An Operating Model that centralises resources and leaves rural areas exposed;
- The burden of administration.
- Governance-heavy structures that add bureaucracy but not capability; and
- A persistent feeling of being undervalued among frontline members.
The Association rejects the report’s implication of an “unwillingness” among Supervisors to carry out their role.
AGSI says Sergeants and Inspectors are committed leaders but are often hampered by vacancies, members expected to undertake multiple roles simultaneously, and “ad hoc” supervision arrangements caused by stretched staffing levels.
AGSI has been continually seeking to highlight these issues and now wish to work with Garda management, Government Departments, and overseeing agencies to identify and implement solutions to the problems that have been repeatedly raised, and which are clearly evidenced in this report.
AGSI General Secretary Ronan Clogher added: “The responsibility now sits squarely with management. This report should mark the point where leadership addresses resources, procedures, training, supervision, and accountability, not by commissioning more studies, but by delivering real change.”
AGSI confirmed its commitment to engaging with the newly established Steering Group and Working Group under the Deputy Commissioner for Policing Operations, provided there is meaningful collaboration with Sergeants and Inspectors on the ground to ensure solutions are practical and effective.
Read the report
Independent Review of Roads Policing
