BUT FIRST LET TAKE A STEP BACK TO DUBLIN RIOTS OF 23 NOVEMBER 2023 AND LETS SEE IF LESSONS WERE LEARNED FROM THESE EVENTS.
THIS IS COMMISSIONER HARRIS THE DAY AFTER.
The Worst Riot In Dublin for many years
STATEMENT FROM COMMISSIONER HARRIS ON SERIOUS PUBLIC DISORDER IN DUBLIN CITIY CENTRE ON THE 23 NOVEMBER 2023 Yesterday's events were just terrible between the awful attack which happened at 1:30 in the afternoon and then the subsequent disorder uh Riot and looting in the city in our city center it's just disgraceful scenes from start to finish.
Overall we have 34 arrests 32 of which will be appearing before the courts this morning uh we have 13 shop which have been uh damaged significantly damaged or uh have been subject to looting uh we have 11 Garda Vehicles either destroyed through arson or very extensively damaged and with three public transport buses destroyed and a Luas train destroyed and also then as the extensive damage as I've set out.
So huge destruction from a riotous mob who were in effect responding um at at our crime scene to try and break into that crime scene and disrupt the crime scene at about uh half five or quarter to six and then from there on the violence escalated. um Order was restored in about uh between half past 8 and 9:00 as we deployed more resources the these are scenes that we have not we have not seen in decades.
But what is clear that people have been radicalized through uh social media over the internet and so you have a terrible event and I don't want to lose focus on the on the terrible event in terms of the uh assault Dreadful assault on school children and their teacher. Like that's a full investigation that's ongoing, there's also a full investigation now in respect of the disorder and we have literally thousands of hours now CCTV to trawl through. But many of these individuals they are well known to us they have Criminal records they've been in been with us before and we will go now through the long process of investigation and bringing them before the courts.
In respect of the city center people will see a very heavy garda presence throughout the city today I would encourage them to come to their work and uh come and use the city we can't allow the city to be given over to the thugs and to the looters and to the arsonists.
TEMPLEMORE GARDA COLLEGE FRIDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2024 (PRIME TIME INVESTIGATES BROADCAST THE PREVIOUS DAY
These 27 seconds of "Explanation" from Commissioner Harris sheds no light on his contingency planning for the events of 15 July in Coolock . Vile language, Criminal Behaviour, and Intimidation were witnessed on a grand scale, with unfortunate young uniform Gardaí facing abuse due to the withdrawal of the Public Order Unit for 6 hours. This situation was well flagged and he should not have been taken by surprise. The lack of equipment and support placed them in an impossible position. Every member of the public I spoke to were scathing in their comments. As one who served in that District I can confirm that we never conceded the ground to mobs. Of course there are legitimate concerns but these must be aired within the Rule of Law. Perhaps Keir Starmer can advise, no ill conceived graduated approach, when the rabble tried to claim the streets. It is imperative for him to reflect on the situation and consider the honourable course of action. A full public inquiry is merited in the circumstances perhaps the Dáil Justice Committee will intervene but don't hold you breath.
Commissioners Remarks on the RTE Investigates Programme (Templemore 20 September) queried by Paul Reynolds RTE.
POLICING AUTHORITY MEETING WITH COMMISSIONER HARRIS 25 JULY
Commissioner Questioned on the Dynamics of the Policing Operation
Commissioner Questioned on the "Lessons Learned"
Policing Authority 25 July
DEEPLY UNCONVINCING COMMISSIONER - Commissioner Harris and Team met with Policing Authority on Anti-Migration. Two distinct takeaways , On the Coolock Operation "it was far from perfect" and in relation to 3,000 hours of CCTV for other incidents" needs further legislation to use software to make digital identification" Deeply unconvincing on both points. There are number of automated search platforms available to interrogate CCTV at an exponential speed - One example https://lnkd.in/eah7_ppM and I have no doubt that there are many more providers.
WRONG
Systems are available right now which automatically search CCTV images in a fraction of the time - no connection with the Body Worn Cameras.
The BWC initiative which is a GOOD NEWS STORY is being conflated by the Commissioner with the enormous problem of interrogating CCTV images ( 22,000 Hours from the November 2023 Riots alone) (3,000 Hours from Coolock) from commercial and private sources. He provided this confusing explanation to the Chair of the Policing Authority. He was directly asked the Question is there a better way of interrogating CCTV and he said No and then offered a confused answer which cited legal reasons relating to BWC, nothing to do with the general capture of CCTV from other sources.
Note
The full RTE video tape is available on the RTE Player
RTE Radio Interview with Minister Helen McEntee
Transcript Minister Helen McEntee RTE Radio Sunday September 22
Just say, I mean, I think we're done a great service just to really show people exactly what's happening at these protests because we've had a lot of accusations that the Gardaí being heavy handed, that this is peaceful protest.
This was vile, disgusting, aggressive behaviour against our Gardaí.
Are you happy with the way that the protest at Coolock was policed?
I think the Gardaí have said very clearly that lessons can be learned and I have said that all along.
Well actually no. You didn't say it in relation to Coolock because on the 16th of July a day after that protest you were on news at one and you said you were entirely satisfied with the policing response that day.
Have you changed your position?
I think the Gardaí brought that under control very quickly, so yes, I'm satisfied with the response at the same time.
I have always said that there could be lessons learned and when you look back and in hindsight and the commissioner not just said it this week after the footage was shown on prime time he said it two months ago at a public authority policing meeting where he said we need to learn lessons and we could have done things better.
So I will always support that but my job is to make sure that they have what they need in responding to these type of incidents unfortunately they've become I won't say commonplace because thankfully they're not and these people do not represent the vast majority of either those areas or the rest of the country but in making sure they have what they want
But how could you say now that you're entirely satisfied and you're happy with the response the way the police responded that day given that you know the Garda Commissioner himself has admitted that the public order unit should not have been stood down.
They've said themselves they could have done things better but I mean I understand and I've spoken to the people who are managing and responsible for these situations it's a very dynamic and it's a very challenging environment and every person there did exactly what they thought at the time was appropriate and I think they did everything that they felt was appropriate but in hindsight of course if things can be done better and I fully accept
that that is a decision for them, but I have to resource them.
Do you have access to water cannon.
So we have a tender out for two new water cannons it's not something that we have really required before now and that work happened immediately after what we saw in Dublin in November.
When will they get them.
Well I hope really in the New Year. We do have access to the water cannon in Northern Ireland if it's something that we need in the interim but this has been moved along as quickly as possible.
Separate to that after last November I made sure working with the Garda Commissioner that the rollout of body cameras was accelerated as quickly as possible so we now have body cameras. Some of which were used for the protests in Coolock but what we saw and what was evident from last week's program was how important these are like we've seen when you have the footage when you have evidence not only can you de -escalate the situation but also you have the ability to bring people to court and to get guilty pleas much quicker.
So making sure we have body cameras, making sure we have facial recognition so that Gardaí can identify people in CCTV much more quickly, making sure people can't cover their faces, all of this is being progressed and underway or already in place, as well as new equipment, new technology, new public order vans, making sure people are trained and of course making sure we have many Gardaí as possible.
That's all the work that I'm doing to make sure that they can respond as effectively as possible.
INTERVIEW WITH MIDLANDS RADIO
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