ALTHOUGH the former Garda Commissioner, Mr Patrick Culligan, has been at pains to reassure an increasingly sceptical public that the level of indictable crime has not appreciable altered in the past 10 years other than in the area of gratuitous violence it is unlikely that a disillusioned public will find sanctuary behind the shield of statistics.

Having witnessed more than 301 murders this year alone, with an ever increasing scale of ferocity and during, a cynical public's confidence in the forces of law and order has been severely diminished.

A nation has watched in horror as one bloody outrage surpasses the other, culminating in mass public outrage, directed at our legislators, in the wake of the most recent assassination of journalist, Veronica Gueria.

The belated reaction of Government to the crime crisis has been reactive and disjointed as this issue jumped to the forefront of the new political agenda.

In an unprecedented response, the Dail meets tomorrow for a one day debate on crime. The Government would do well to treat this session as a first instalment in formulating a long term strategy on crime.

It might reflect on the wisdom of delaying or diverting the necessary funding for the present Minister's earlier proposal to change our bail laws and increase prison spaces, despite the overwhelming support for such initiatives by the various State agencies with responsibility for tackling crime.

These measures have now been, rather belatedly, approved by Cabinet, together with a commitment to increase Garda recruitment, create a special Task Force of inter state agencies, enhance Garda powers and streamline operational procedures in the judicial process in general.

All of these measures could and should have been possible with unity of purpose between Government Ministers and their Departments on the one hand and the Garda and other relevant State agencies on the other.

To even the most dispassionate observer there has been noticeable tensions among these vital interacting organs of State.

They were noticeable in the former commissioner's recent public utterances, indicting these Departments for their inaction in the so called drugs war. They were noticeable tool in the recent Dail debate where a prominent Government backbencher, with considerable knowledge of Garda affairs, declared that consideration should be given to the appointment of a civilian Garda commissioner "to refresh the management of the Force".

Such utterances, in the last two weeks of the previous commissioner's reign, do very little for the confidence or morale of a police force, at a time when a harmonious relationship between Government and the Garda is so crucial in any successful fight against crime.

The one day debate should concentrate the minds of the legislators on the fact that the Garda force is presently 200 down on 1992 staffing levels and almost 700 down on 1985 figures. Such shortfall will not be regained other than through recruitment, which has been promised.

It is also of paramount importance that the Government resolves the industrial relations problems in the force, which have defied all efforts at "internal resolution" for the past two years.

But there is also a need to rebut the popular myth that Ireland is one of the most densely policed countries in Europe. In two independent surveys conducted in 1993 and 1995, Ireland is ranked ninth of to European states in the ratio of police to public.

A further area of critical importance to our legislators is the level of co-operation and co-ordination between the various Government Departments and the various State agencies in the battle against drug related crime. Successful eradication or reduction in this area are as much the responsibility of the Departments of Finance, Education and Health as that of Justice.

Another element of conflict lies in the interaction between the gardai and Customs and Revenue personnel. The previous much lauded co-operation does not wash with the public, which now tends of litigation between these agencies as a result of the controversial Urlingford seizure last year.

It is clear that considerable research and planning must be applied to the new Task Force, which can work effectively, provided it operates under a single chain of command and accountability.

Unless there is a preference for creating a new separate strata of investigation, one presumes the Garda will retain its unique status as the primary law investigating agency in this State. Personnel from other State agencies can be seconded to this Garda Task Force or the National French Bureau Model can be applied.

The legislators should also consider a full scale Commission on the Garda. There have been only two of any significance one in the late 1960s and the second in the 1970s.

Apart from pay and conditions, the Commission might look more critically at the structure of the Force and its future direction and purpose. In this regard, it should consider the comments of the Fianna Fail spokesman on Justice, Mr John O'Donoghue, in last month's Dail debate. He questioned "whether the patriarchal role the Department of Justice plays in Garda affairs is the most effective way of managing the force". He concluded by calling for "a professional examination of the Garda with a view to ascertaining whether change is required to make the force more reflective of and responsive to the needs of society as we approach the third millennium.

If the patriarchal bonds of the Department of Justice are to be severed, then there is an opportunity to give the new commissioner real autonomy.

He must be given budgetary control of the force, but there must also be a greater level of accountability by the commissioner through the Dail. The Garda, too, must be amenable to introspection and change, and Commissioner Byrne must not be reluctant to adopt a more innovative and bold response to the crime problem. He must critically review the overall merits of his predecessor's five year corporate strategy plan, adopting what is worthwhile and discarding the rest.

In this context one feels he should review the present anti specialist bias in the force and the current promotion regulations in this regard. It is felt in many quarters that hard earned specialist skills are undervalued. Perpetrators of serious crime spend years practising their evil trade. They must be met with an equivalent specialist response.