Increased Garda resources was not the only solution to rising street violence, the Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, said yesterday in Templemore after 120 newly-trained gardaí took part in a graduation ceremony.
Commissioner Byrne was commenting on concerns about aggressive behaviour in cities and towns late at night following the highlighting of recent attacks in Cork. He said it was not a uniquely Irish phenomenon but also existed in Britain and other European countries. Society had changed and attitudes to authority had changed, he said. While he would like to have more gardaí, the solution lay not just in law enforcement.
"We have to ask ourselves the question: What is causing the aggressiveness in young and not so young people?" he said.
Gardaí were entering into confrontational situations now when they requested people to go home under the Public Order Act. Individuals resented being told what to do by people in positions of authority and ended up being arrested.
The drug he had the greatest problem with was alcohol, he added.
In his speech to the new recruits, he emphasised the need for skilful communication in stressful and confrontation situations. "This should not present a problem for you but from my experience, factors such as inappropriate appearance, manner of speech and use of language can often cause offence even in the mildest situations," he said.
Out of 60,000 incidents last year, 38,000 people were charged with Public Order offences.
An extra 300 Garda recruits will be sought from this Sunday when a new advertising campaign begins. It will form part of the Government's target to have 12,000 gardaí in the force by the end of the year.
The new recruits will be the first since policemen were first recruited in 1827 who will not be subject to the current height restriction of 5'9" for male Garda and 5'5" for female Garda applicants. New applicants will still have to be aged between 18 and 26.
Assistant Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, who has responsibility for human resource management, said there never had been a difficulty recruiting gardaí and he could not envisage whether applications will be up greatly. Many police forces in Europe had no height restriction and the issue now would be one of "assertive presence", he said. A new physical training programme is to be introduced and is to be finalised by the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice.
The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, presented graduation certificates to 97 male gardaí and 23 female gardaí.