{"id":26933,"date":"2023-09-07T21:41:30","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T21:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/?p=26933"},"modified":"2024-01-14T23:08:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-14T23:08:10","slug":"policing-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/policing-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Policing History"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_63 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/policing-history\/#18th_Century\" title=\"18th Century\">18th Century<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/policing-history\/#Pre-Constabulary\" title=\"Pre-Constabulary\">Pre-Constabulary<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/policing-history\/#Irish_Constabulary_Act\" title=\"Irish Constabulary Act\">Irish Constabulary Act<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/policing-history\/#Organisation\" title=\"Organisation\">Organisation<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/policing-history\/#Dublin_Police\" title=\"Dublin Police\">Dublin Police<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/policing-history\/#20th_Century\" title=\"20th Century\">20th Century<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/policing-history\/#Garda_Siochana\" title=\"Garda Siochana\">Garda Siochana<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/policing-history\/#Legislative_Establishment\" title=\"Legislative Establishment\">Legislative Establishment<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/policing-history\/#Development\" title=\"Development\">Development<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"18th_Century\"><\/span>18th Century<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Until the beginning of the 19th Century, the police were under the control of the Grand Jury.\u00a0 By the 17th Century, there were, in theory, at least high constables for Barony and petty of parish constables for each parish.<\/p>\n<p>The Grand Jury appointed the high constables from 1734. The Justice of the Peace appointed the petty constable if the sheriffs and seneschals failed to do so.<\/p>\n<p>In 1786, the Lord-Lieutenant was given power to appoint three police commissioners who were placed in control of a force of approximately 750 men.\u00a0 In 1795, the corporation was given power to appoint magistrates. In 1808, the power to appoint management of the Metropolitan Police was again shared with the Lord-Lieutenant.<\/p>\n<p>The force was under the control of 18 magistrates, 6 selected by the corporation and 12 by the Lord-Lieutenant.\u00a0 The magistrates were to appoint constables and were to report to the chief secretary or undersecretary. By the 1830s, the Force comprised 200 constables and 500 watchmen.<\/p>\n<p>By a 1787 Act, the Lord-Lieutenant was to appoint a chief constable for each Barony under whom there would be sub-constables appointed by the Grand Jury.\u00a0 By a 1792 Act, which \u00a0did not apply in 13 counties<\/p>\n<p>By the beginning of the 19th Century there was relatively small number of constables, who were poorly paid, and many were only part time staff.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Pre-Constabulary\"><\/span>Pre-Constabulary<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In 1814, when there were serious disturbances, the Baronial police were supplemented by a force under the control of the central government.\u00a0 The Lord-Lieutenant had power to proclaim an area to be in disturbance and to require additional police.<\/p>\n<p>The Lord-Lieutenant could appoint a Chief Magistrate of the Peace in this area with powers of the Justice of the Peace, and with a clerk, \u00a0chief constable and a force of sub-constables for his assistance.<\/p>\n<p>In 1822, the Lord-Lieutenant was given power to appoint a chief constable for each Barony and direct Justices of the Peace to nominate constables, and \u00a0in default and in default do so himself.\u00a0 The force was to be equipped at the expense of the County from government stores.\u00a0 Chief constables would report to the Lord-Lieutenant quarterly.\u00a0 The Lord-Lieutenant was given power to appoint four inspectors of the Baronial police and superintendents of the constables for County Dublin.<\/p>\n<p>By the 1830s, the constabulary and baronial police comprised nearly 7,700 officers and men. In addition, there were the peace preservation forces stationed in 10 counties.\u00a0There were also the \u00a0Dublin Police and the Revenue police.\u00a0 The Revenue Police dealt with excise and related matters.\u00a0 The principal function was suppressing illicit distillation.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Irish_Constabulary_Act\"><\/span>Irish Constabulary Act<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In 1836, legislation, the Constabulary (Ireland) Act \u00a0was introduced to make the Irish police force more effective in view of the \u00a0continuing \u00a0sectarian and agrarian disturbances.\u00a0The Lord-Lieutenant was given power to appoint two paid Justices of the Peace, known as Commissioners, to be responsible to the Chief Secretary.\u00a0 They were to recruit a sufficient number of men and make rules and regulations for the Force.<\/p>\n<p>In 1846 the cost of maintaining the Constabulary was transferred to the UK Government.\u00a0 Each County was given a police establishment.\u00a0 If additional police were required, the county was required to meet half the additional cost.<\/p>\n<p>In the same year, the Revenue Police were reformed, and standards of training and education were \u00a0greatly enhanced.\u00a0 \u00a0In 1857, the Revenue Police was abolished and it functions were transferred to the Constabulary.<\/p>\n<p>The Irish Constabulary was renamed the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1867. It was a largely centralised force.\u00a0 It was under the control of the chief secretary\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>The primary function of the police was to maintain law and order.\u00a0 However, a range of additional functions were given to the police, including collecting agricultural statistics, \u00a0census enumerators, enforcing fishery laws, enforcing food and drug laws, enforcing weights and measures, explosives and petroleum legislation.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Organisation\"><\/span>Organisation<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Most of the \u00a0police officers were directly commissioned and entered and trained as cadets.\u00a0 Later in the 19th Century a greater proportion of appointment were filled by the promotion of non-commissioned officers.\u00a0 By the end of the century, at least half of the vacancies of District Inspector were to be fulfilled by promotion from inside the ranks.<\/p>\n<p>The officers under Inspector General and immediate subordinates were sub-Inspectors and chief constables. The rank-and-file comprised head-constables, constables and sub-constables.<\/p>\n<p>In 1839, county Inspectors and sub Inspectors replaced \u00a0the rank of sub inspector and chief constable.\u00a0 In 1883, sub inspectors, \u00a0constables and sub-constables were renamed district inspectors, sergeants and constables.\u00a0 In 1881, a new grade of police officer was created.<\/p>\n<p>Special Resident Magistrates were appointed who were responsible for coordinating and directing the forces of law and order in groups of counties.\u00a0 They had the powers of the Justice of The Peace, although their duties were also executive.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dublin_Police\"><\/span>Dublin Police<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Another Act in 1836 reformed the Dublin Police.The Dublin Metropolitan Police was organised differently to the Royal Irish Constabulary.<\/p>\n<p>The Dublin Metropolitan Police was responsible for the police district of the Dublin Metropolis.\u00a0 This was to be divided into six districts. By 1914, to the Dublin Metropolitan Police was 1200 strong.<\/p>\n<p>Both police forces were usually armed.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"20th_Century\"><\/span>20th Century<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Eighty one percent of the rank-and-file of the RIC were Roman Catholic by 1914.\u00a0 However, the centralised command structure remained, and officer grades were secured for those whose loyalty was unquestioned.<\/p>\n<p>The police force numbered 8,400 initially and have grown to 12,000 by 1914.\u00a0\u00a0By 1922, the number of police per head of population was three times that of England and Wales.<\/p>\n<p>After the 1918 election, the provisional government campaign was aimed principally at the RIC.\u00a0 The first incident involved the killing of two RIC officers in an ambush in January 1919.<\/p>\n<p>The RIC was augmented by the notorious Black and Tans in 1920.\u00a0 In the period from January 1919, to July 1921, 425 RIC men were killed and 725 were wounded.\u00a0 The RIC withdrew from large areas of the countryside and half of the barracks which it held were abandoned.<\/p>\n<p>Upon the establishment of the Irish Free State, the Royal Irish Constabulary were disbanded and the new force, An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na was established.\u00a0 It was hoped that the Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na would enjoy a greater level of public support than the Royal Irish Constabulary which had been seen as an instrument of the central government through much of its existence.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Garda_Siochana\"><\/span>Garda Siochana<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A committee was established in early 1922 under the chairmanship of Michael Staines, the head of the Republican Police, to report on proposals for \u00a0police organisation outside of Dublin.\u00a0 Nine members of the committee were former RIC men.\u00a0 It proposed a broadly similar structure to the RIC administered by a commissioner with a strength of 4,300 men.<\/p>\n<p>The service was originally named the Civic Guard in English but was established with its Irish language name An Garda Siochana; the guardians of the peace.<\/p>\n<p>The basic rank would be equivalent to the British Constable and will be broadly similar to the RIC.\u00a0 The distinction between officers and men would remain. Promotion would be by way of competitive exams. The force was to be drawn from the Republic Army, the Republican Police, \u00a0men who were dismissed or resigned from the RIC or DMP, the civilian population and disbanded \u00a0RIC and the DMP members.<\/p>\n<p>The force was proposed to be independent of the administration, but answerable to it.\u00a0 The Commissioner would be responsible to the government. The proposals were accepted, and Michael Stains was appointed the first commissioner.\u00a0 The committee had recommended an armed force.<\/p>\n<p>A police organising committee was appointed by the provisional government which contained large numbers of RIC officers.\u00a0 The RIC Constabulary Manual of Law and Duties continued to be relied on.<\/p>\n<p>Internal tensions in appointment and the brewing Civil War led to the Kildare Mutiny in 1922 and subsequent commission of enquiry. The mutiny was seen as a consequence of the perception that former RIC men have excessive influence in the new force.<\/p>\n<p>The commission proposed that the proposed force be technically disbanded and reformed.\u00a0 Politicians should be ineligible to the hold office in the force.\u00a0 Commissioner Staines resigned. He was a TD . He was replaced by General Eoin O \u2018Duffy.<\/p>\n<p>The Commission recommended that the force generally be unarmed. It was desired that the force be seen as servants of the people rather than an arm of government.\u00a0 By January 1923, the Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na were unarmed.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Legislative_Establishment\"><\/span>Legislative Establishment<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na (Temporary Provisions) Act 1923, put the force on a statutory footing. It was already well established by that time.\u00a0 The functions of the RIC in respect of petty sessions sittings and matters were transferred to the Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na.<\/p>\n<p>The temporary legislation was succeeded by the almost identical Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na Act 1924.\u00a0 The Police Forces Amalgamation Act 1925 amalgamated the Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na with the Dublin Metropolitan Police.<\/p>\n<p>The Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na was established as a body of men divided into ranks under the general direction and control of the Chief Officer.\u00a0 The Chief Officer and other senior positions are appointed by government and the officeholders could be removed by it. The Department of Justice enjoys extensive powers to make regulations for the general management of the force.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Development\"><\/span>Development<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na sought to establish legitimacy by the consent. \u00a0The period from 1922 to 1960 was characterised by very low crime rates, high emigration of, an authoritarian social climate and \u00a0a reinvigorated Catholic Church.<\/p>\n<p>Since 1961 crime rates have increased by many multiples.\u00a0The range of Garda\u2019s powers have increased enormously in the last 40 years.\u00a0 Criminal law has been modernised particularly since 1997.<\/p>\n<p>The Garda Complaints Board was established in 1986.\u00a0 This followed \u00a0disquiet despite regarding the powers of detention in the Criminal Justice Act 1984.\u00a0 There was concern about the effect on civil liberties.<\/p>\n<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-26933\" data-postid=\"26933\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-26933 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    <\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>18th Century Until the beginning of the 19th Century, the police were under the control of the Grand Jury.\u00a0 By the 17th Century, there were, in theory, at least high constables for Barony and petty of parish constables for each parish. The Grand Jury appointed the high constables from 1734. The Justice of the Peace [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[146],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26933"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30695,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26933\/revisions\/30695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}