A NEW offensive against Dublin drug dealing will begin on Monday, the Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, has said.
It will consist of undercover units focusing on city drug gangs, as well as greater uniformed presence in the worst affected areas.
This meant diverting resources from other duties but Mr Byrne said: "I've got to prioritise, that's what I'm paid for."
Extra officers are available due to the return of 160 gardai from Border duty, where mobile patrols will replace the static checkpoints set up during last summer's BSE crisis. In addition, gardai such as warrant servers who are currently allowed to operate in plainclothes will join uniformed patrols in the city.
In yesterday's address to the criminal justice conference, organised in Dublin by the Association of Chief Superintendents, the Commissioner questioned statistics often quoted on drug crime and other offences.
"I hear and read that 80 per cent of crime is drug related, therefore Garda management should correspondingly deploy resources to counter this specific element of crime. It is also said that only 1 1/2 per cent of Garda resources in Dublin is dedicated to countering drug related crime. Both statistics are wrong."
He asked: "How is this 80 per cent calculated? Who arrived at it? I don't accept it. I don't know what the correct figure is but it is not 80 per cent."
The statistic offered for the Garda resources devoted to drug crimes did not acknowledge that officers who were not in specialist drug units often dealt with drug offences, he said.
The Commissioner also referred to the suggestion that only 5 per cent of crimes were committed by people on bail. The official Garda figure of 5 per cent referred only to detected crime, he said, and did not refer to offences for which perpetrators had not been identified.
The Commissioner also called for greater interaction between the Garda and local communities. "Regrettably, there are incidents where punishment is meted out to suspects by self appointed assessors'," he said. "A sentence review is conducted in a back alley. If this type of justice becomes acceptable, where will it all end?"