19 September 2021
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
Last week – on Wednesday 15 September from 14:30 to 16:00 – the Policing Authority held an online public event titled ‘What does effective community policing look like? A public conversation on community policing focusing on Mayfield and The Glen, Cork’.
This public conversation featured a panel discussing the topic of what effective community policing looks like, followed by Q&A with a small invited audience who live and work in the area.
What is the Policing Authority?
In the News we often hear of ‘The Policing Authority’, ‘The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC)’, and ‘Garda Inspectorate’. Each is separate.
The above video is from the Policing Authority only. It was established in 2016 to oversee the performance of the Garda Síochána in relation to policing services in Ireland.
Its functions include
- Approving the three year Garda Síochána Strategy Statement
- Setting annual Policing Priorities and performance targets for the Garda Síochána
- Approving the Annual Policing Plan
- Holding monthly meetings with the Garda Commissioner, including meetings in public at least four times each year, which are live streamed and are available to broadcast by the media, as required by statute.
- Building independent sources of evidence to assess performance through engagement with a broad range of stakeholders
- Reviewing arrangements and mechanisms within the Garda Síochána for
- Corporate governance
- Recruitment, training and development
- Performance measurement and accountability
- Management and deployment of resources
