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GARDAÍ HAVE USED pepper spray more than 250 times so far this year, according to figures released by the Minister for Justice.
Responding to a parliamentary question from TD Tommy Broughan, Minister Charlie Flanagan revealed that over the course of 2018, pepper spray was used 687 times, tasers were used 31 times and firearms were used four times.
So far this year there have been 257 reports of pepper spray being used, eight instances of Taser use and one report of use of a firearm.
Under a Garda Síochána directive, garda management is required to notify the Garda Ombudsman’s office of the discharge of a firearm or less than lethal device within 48 hours of the event occurring.
The figures provided by the minister were the numbers reported to Gsoc under this directive.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has long been calling for the roll-out of Tasers to all frontline officers. Currently, frontline members are equipped with pepper spray, but only specialist units have access to Tasers.
An average of 12 gardaí a week are injured on duty and the GRA has said the number of assaults on members would reduce if equipment like Tasers and bodycams were introduced, as they have been in other jurisdictions.
Last year the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) expressed concern about the garda use of force. A report noted gardaí are likely to use pepper spray at a higher rate than the Metropolitan Police or the PSNI and stated that there was a lack of statistics available.
The report recommended recording all circumstances of deployments of weapons or use of force, together with an explanation of the circumstances, location of use, outcome and the identity of the gardaí involved.
Policing Authority member Vicky Conway also made reference today to this higher rate of pepper spray use:
“The Met also used batons 557 times, but we don’t have such a number of gardaí. Between firearms, Taser and pepper spray, An Garda Síochána 722, Met 895 – Met having twice the population, Conway said.
She said this “suggests police use more weapons in Ireland”.
It was revealed earlier this year that An Garda Síochána failed to notify Gsoc about more than half of Taser discharges within the required 48-hour period.
Broughan said he has been recently calling for greater resources to the gardaí and “more action from the government on rising instances of serious crime in Dublin”.
“However, it is also important to have transparency around the work of our gardaí and I would have expected some further explanations around the use of these measures which is why I asked the minister for a statement on the matter also.”
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People aren’t going to stop taking them, on-site testing facilities would be a forward thinking solution.
@Gav Brosnan: natural selection would be another. Just because society won’t make it legal doesn’t absolve you of responsibility. Ingest unknown substances!! More fool you.
@SFLounyTouny: Gav is advocating a solution to the unknown substances problem.
Would you actually not support safety initiatives for people to test pills but you’d rather say I told you so to the 0.0001% of people who ever have an issue with them?
@SFLounyTouny: yeah I agree, its not smart to take stuff you that you don’t know the contents and source of but people will still do it, a lot of people. Just because its stupid doesn’t mean it wont happen. The risks can always be lessened.
@Gav Brosnan: the risk can be lessened!! The risk can be eliminated completely..dont take them.
@SFLounyTouny: oh that’s that sorted so. Hope everyone caught that.
@SFLounyTouny: you clearly don’t live in the real world.
@Gav Brosnan: yes I do…take unknown substances and risk death..don’t take unknown substance and no risk of death..quite simple.
@sftonylouny
Get in your car risk death, don’t get in your car don’t risk death.
I have to say this is absolutely sound advice from the HSE and it’s good to see a sensible approach taken for once. Obviously the clear message is don’t take drugs but the advice given is 100% correct and relevant. It could save a life
@Coco86: a pill testing station would also help
@John Longmore: Agreed. Might actually turn people off if you new exactly what was in it.
@John Longmore: i believe the legal situation wouldn’t allow them to be handed back, so fairly pointless at the minute
@Coco86: Agreed, it’s good to see them coming around to the type of practical advice that club magazines provided in the 90s. It’s a lonnnnng time since I touched anything but good advice still applies.
2 weeks between sessions seems a little unrealistic for most heads though. And its better to test the batch before, or talk to your friends, as you’re unlikely to show discipline at the start of a session when you’re hyped up. Most people wouldn’t knowingly bring speckled pills to a festival as a sizeable number of folks don’t like tripping or are not cut out for it in large crowds of people they don’t know.
@Julian Friesel: Just give one keep the rest :)
@Rónán O’Suilleabháin: The thoughts of e’s make me gag now man absolutely putrid rotten yokes! But back in the day I did my fair share and looking back now I’m lucky to have made it through those mad teenage early 20′s years! But we all know the risks albeit understand them that bit better as you get older. Hopefully everyone enjoys this year’s festivals and gets home safe,
Don’t take them is also good advice.
@Jalbeardzi, Yup and if you dont, just take a little bit seen how you feel in an hour before you escalate
@Clever Jake: because it is legal, if it was illegal it wouldn’t measure in the list of most deadly drugs.
Let’s hope the yes side come out in as much force on this issue, “women take abortion pills let’s make it safe for them” people take recreational drugs let’s make it safe for them. Legalise and regulate from manufacture to consumer
@Colm Kiernan: we need the Citizens Assembly to get involved here. Where’s Noone when we need her? Probably still hungover from the rave at the castle. #Trustdrugdealers
Perhaps enforcing drug laws would be a start
@Steve1234: They clearly don’t work
@Coco86: They’re not enforced. People used to drink and drive regularly until it was treated seriously and now a lot less people do it as there is more chance of being caught. If the same approach was taken to drugs it would have the same results
@Steve1234: Evidence from every country that has tried this shows it doesn’t work. All you end up with is prisons filled with decent people for minor drug offences.
@Steve1234: Of course they are enforced, have you ever witnessed anybody taking lines off the bar having a pint? No, because it’s illegal people will use the toilets instead! If anything I would say they are enforced too much and you must admit the so called war on drugs is being catastrophically lost. I agree with you on your drink driving comparison but this is not the right approach here IMO. Why criminalise the person with 20 euro worth of MDMA in their pocket when the real problem is at the top of the chain making millions? There will always be a demand for drugs so provide safe substances and make those on top irrelevant
Traditional party drugs like MDMA are quite safe substances, certainly no more dangerous than alcohol and likely safer. Where the danger arises is with adulterated substances, toxic derivatives or substances passed off as something they’re not. This is a result of prohibition and the black market drug trade. If alcohol were illegal, you would see deaths due to methanol poisoning from home brews as is common now in many Islamic countries where alcohol is prohibited. The substances we know to be relatively safe from clinical studies (MDMA, LSD, psilocybin, cannabis etc.) should be regulated and allowed to be openly sold as alcohol is. Dangerous derivatives and the like should still be banned.
Lesson number 1. Know you’re dealer.
@Dj: lesson number 2 “you’re” means “you are”
@Dj: Absolutely I am… You either do it, or you lie and say you don’t do it
@Dj: Question is does your dealer know their dealer and so on. The MDMA or pills the user consumes has passed through so many hands! The best thing is to listen to the advice given above and enjoy yourself, and the buzz!
@Coco86: Well, if you’ve been buying off a dealer for a period of time and it’s good stuff then I don’t see the need to buy some crap off some shifty looking bloke in the public toilets. Just come prepared is all.
@Dj: That’s true I’d sooner go without than risk some filthy crap from a randomer, you seem to think likewise :)
Unfortunately though I would think a lot of people particularly kids wouldn’t see it that way.
@Dj: Lesson No. 47 – Learn to count
@Dj (know your dealer) As if that makes any difference he doesn’t give a toss about you .
Prohibition KILLS
At the same time as an online poll here regarding possession of small amounts of illegal substances.
“Chewing gum can help jaw cramps” – yeah, will help GIVE you jaw cramps! And wreck your stomach. Clearly never did a pill in his life!
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