Gardaí have had 52 incidents of spitting or coughing
There have been 52 incidents of spitting and/or coughing against members of An Garda Síochána since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, figures released this week by the gardaí have revealed.
From 8 April until 2 May 2020 inclusive, members of An Garda Síochána had to use anti-spit guards 28 times.
Commissioner Drew Harris said, "Regrettably, we continue to see spitting and coughing attacks on our personnel. These are a significant health and safety risk to our members in the current environment. We must protect them from such disgraceful attacks.
"This includes having the option of using anti-spit guards in very limited circumstances. We have made it clear these anti-spit guards are only to be used as last resort and in line with the Garda Decision Making Model, which includes at its centre human rights and our Code of Ethics.”
Anti-spit guards are a lawful use of force and are currently on issue to other police services internationally.
Compliance
Meanwhile, the gardaí have welcomed the hig level of compliance by the public with the health guidelines at the many checkpoints and high visibility patrols it is conducting at tourist locations, natural beauty spots, and parks and beaches.
During this time, Gardaí have interacted with hundreds of thousands of people. The vast majority were adhering to the public health guidelines.
A demonstration of this is the compliance rate at checkpoints. This is when individuals stopped at checkpoints are already in compliance with the guidelines or agree to take steps to become compliant such as turning around when asked to by a Garda.
The compliance rate was sampled at four of the larger checkpoints on Friday, 1 May, 2020 – one in each Garda region and only 21 of the 13,324 car drivers checked - 0.16% - were requested to turn around for not having a valid reason for travel and all agreed to do so. 0.
From 8 April, which was when the regulations came into effect, until 2 May 2020 inclusive, Gardaí have invoked the regulations 139 times out of hundreds of thousands of interactions with the public. These include both arrests and incidents without arrest where name and address details were taken for consultation with the DPP on the decision to issue charges. Arrest remains a last resort.
Of the 139 incidents, two were as a result of an instruction from a relevant medical professional as per the Act.
In addition, pre-existing enforcement powers were used in 1,172 incidents where other offences were disclosed in the course of COVID-19 operations. These range from incidents such as drink driving or disqualified drivers detected at checkpoints, to drugs and weapons seizures, to public order offences.
The number of incidents involving other suspected crimes continues to far exceed the number of cases involving only breaches of Government restrictions.
Commissioner Harris said, "The continued high level of compliance with the health guidelines is very welcome and we thank the public for it. Both the low level of ‘turn-backs’ at major checkpoints and the very small usage of the regulations compared to the huge number of interactions we have had with people show that the vast majority of people are playing their part in tackling COVID-19.