Garda cutbacks will see rise in street crime, FG claims

CUTBACKS TO essential policing operations, including Operation Anvil which targets organised crime gangs, have come into force this week, according to Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan.

Resources given to traffic policing, community policing and weekend work have all been cut, Mr Flanagan said, despite recent assurances from Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern that frontline services would not be affected by any economic downturn.

A directive has been issued to all divisions by Garda headquarters, Mr Flanagan said, instructing that out-of-hours policing duties be restricted.

"Key frontline policing duties have been slashed this week in every Garda division as a result of the Government's emergency cutbacks, under the guise of 'corrective measures'."

Restrictions on overtime and working hours meant that gardaí would be withdrawn from the streets and crime levels would inevitably rise, he said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said that there had been no reduction in the agreed budget for 2008 which in any way affected frontline policing and any measures being undertaken related to "prudent management" by the Garda Commissioner to adhere to the agreed budgets.

"Deputy Flanagan appears to advocate that the Garda Commissioner should not take such prudent measures to live within existing budgets," she said.

While e Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy does not comment on specific operation directives, a spokesman said that he regularly emphasised the need for prudent spending to senior officers.

"On a number of occasions throughout any calendar year, the Garda Commissioner reinforces this point to his senior management team. This may be done through written directive, oral advices or on the occasion of management meeting.

"It is not anticipated that the service delivered to the public will be affected, but officers are reminded that all public funds must be managed in a prudent manner and to optimum effect."

Mr Flanagan's claims follow a recent spate of violent attacks, including one in which a 19-year- old man lost several teeth after being hit in the face with a glass bottle by a gang of men posing as gardaí.

Philip Walsh was walking home after finishing work at his summer job in a local shop in Glasnevin, Dublin, last Wednesday night when he and two friends were attacked by three men in their 20s.

"They told us they were gardaí, they quite clearly weren't. They started asking for our phones and searching us. Out of nowhere I got a glass bottle to the face, I fell down and they stared kicking me in the face and I ended up losing three teeth."

Mr Walsh, who had recently returned from South Africa where he worked with a house-building charity after completing his Leaving Certificate in Belvedere College, Dublin, told RTÉ's Livelineradio show yesterday that he would require extensive dental work.

"The gum is so badly damaged that the bone is exposed. I have to get dentures in for a while, I have to wait until my gum heals itself before I can get measured for them."

Mr Walsh did not know his attackers who robbed him of just €20.