McDowell to unveil new plan for traffic corps

A 1,000-officer traffic corps within the Garda is to be set up by the Minister for Justice in an effort to tackle road deaths.

Mr McDowell is finalising his plans for the new corps and intends to announce the details shortly.

He is in talks with the Garda Commissioner and the new head of the Garda Traffic Bureau, Chief Supt John Farrelly, on how the new corps would work and where its members would be deployed.

Around 500 of the 2,000 extra gardaí to be recruited in the lifetime of the Government will be deployed in the new corps, and these will be joined by around 600 existing members.

The Dublin Metropolitan Division already has a traffic unit and other Garda divisions are largely responsible for traffic in their own areas.

However, that will change under the new plans and policing of traffic across the State will become the responsibility of the new traffic corps under Chief Supt Farrelly.

It is intended that the corps officers will concentrate exclusively on policing traffic, and deal with other crimes only if they come across them in the course of their traffic duties.

Meanwhile, an extra €4 million has been made available by the Government for Garda overtime, some of which will be used to increase high-visibility policing on the roads.

Gardaí will mount patrols and checkpoints in the vicinity of licensed premises in a bid to deter drink-driving and detect those breaking the law between now and the New Year.

The Garda Commissioner, Mr Noel Conroy, has also indicated that the funds will allow very targeted policing on roads in the early hours of weekend mornings, when serious traffic offences usually occur.

The funds will allow for 140,000 additional garda overtime hours in the next eight weeks.

Officers will also be deployed in housing estates on anti-burglary patrols and in public areas where public order problems are prevalent.

Following concerns over the increase in cash-in-transit robberies and firearms offences this year, more gardaí will also be made available for cash escorts in the run-up to Christmas.

Special teams of gardaí will also do spot-checks on gun-owners to ensure licensed weapons are being stored securely. Gardaí believe many guns now in circulation were stolen from gun-owners.

There will also be an increased emphasis on community policing patrols, which will involve visits to elderly and "vulnerable persons" living in remote locations.

High-visibility uniform patrols will be conducted on busy thoroughfares, particularly late at night, where large numbers of people gather following late-night entertainment, especially during the lead-up to Christmas.

Additional uniform and plain clothes patrols will go ahead at areas adjoining business and commercial areas of cities and large towns.