Policing

Around 35,000 children have been stopped and searched by PSNI officers in the past nine years with little benefit for community safety, a major stop and search policing conference will hear today. The new PSNI chief constable, Simon Byrne, is among those attending the conference at Queen's Universit

The treatment of people in Garda custody will be subject to an independent review announced today by the Garda Inspectorate. The watchdog said it will look into all aspects of custody, with a particular focus on how the rights of persons in An Garda Síochána custody are protected, the

The landmark restructuring of An Garda Síochána announced today will "reduce bureaucracy" and lead to a "more agile and responsive police service", Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has said. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris today published the new "operating model", which provides for l

Chief Superintendent Johanna O'Leary has been appointed to lead a new An Garda Síochána unit aimed at stamping out corruption inside the police force. The new unit, announced by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris in May, will investigate allegations including drug use and associations with

A former garda who was dismissed in 1982 has received formal acknowledgement that he was sacked because of his "alleged homosexual activity". In a letter, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris told the man, who is using the pseudonym "Liam", that the Department of Justice had located a document confirming

Solicitor John Wadham has been appointed as human rights advisor to the Northern Ireland Policing Board. Mr Wadham met the Board's chair Anne Connolly and vice chair Deborah Watters for the first time yesterday.

A man who was wrongfully arrested on suspicion of attacking his fiancée, even though she insisted it was another man, has been awarded over €1 million by a High Court jury. Gerald Jennings, 34, sued the Garda Commissioner and the State over his arrest in Carlow on 2 December 2012 on susp

Drugs and gang crime expert Dr Johnny Connolly, a research fellow at University of Limerick School of Law, addressed a Policing Authority meeting this morning on community safety oversight. Dr Connolly, a member of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland, joined others on the panel for t

A rule mandating that police officers have degrees could remove 4,000 recruits from the front line, one force has claimed as it seeks judicial review of the policy. Lincolnshire Police is challenging the College of Policing’s demand that new recruits have a degree, three-year apprenticeship or

A former garda who faced dismissal in the early 1980s after having a child out of wedlock has received an apology from Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan. Majella Moynihan, now in her late 50s, told an RTÉ Radio One documentary about how she became pregnant a

The Garda Inspectorate has commenced its first self-initiated inspection, examining counter corruption practices within An Garda Síochána. The inspection will focus on the effectiveness of gardaí at preventing, detecting and mitigating against internal corruption.

All PSNI custody suites are set to have on-site nurses by next September, bringing Northern Ireland in line with most UK police forces. The first phase of the new embedded service, costing around £500,000, was implemented at Musgrave Station in Belfast in October.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan told a law conference this morning that he plans to bring legislative proposals to the Cabinet this year to codify powers of arrest, search and detention. The legislation will also include statutory codes of practice to ensure full clarity and transparency in the ex

An Garda Síochána has come under sharp criticism from the Policing Authority in a new report which says the organisation is "repeatedly over-promising and under-delivering". The watchdog said the garda accepts third-party recommendations "quickly ... with little assessment as to the fe