The number of gardaí working in Roads Policing Units has fallen by almost 40% since 2009, according to the latest figures published by the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána.
The data, released in response to parliamentary questions from Fine Gael TDs Michael Murphy and Emer Currie, come amid growing concern from road safety advocacy groups about the decline in dedicated roads policing, reports RTE.
Overall personnel numbers dropped from 1,046 in 2009 to 645 in March of this year, a reduction of 401 specialist gardaí.
The number of roads policing gardaí in Dublin almost halved over the same period, falling by 45%, or 130 fewer personnel, reports RTE.
DMR South Central recorded the steepest decline, with a drop of 59% over the 17 years, leaving the division with just 11 gardaí and two road policing vehicles.
Sligo/Leitrim also saw a significant reduction, falling from 34 gardaí in its unit in 2009 to 14 this year. Limerick was the only county where numbers have not declined, recording one additional garda compared with 2009, reports RTE.
A group representing families bereaved in fatal road collisions described the falling numbers as “heartbreaking.” PARC founder Susan Gray said former garda commissioner Drew Harris had told an Oireachtas committee two years ago that he intended to address the issue and had failed to do so.
“They haven’t got the resources they need to make the roads safer. We need them and they are being depleted,” she said, reports RTE.
In a statement, An Garda Síochána said all gardaí, including those outside full-time Roads Policing Units, have a role to play in enforcing road traffic law on a daily basis. The force said non-full-time roads policing personnel were responsible for more than 60% of DUI detections, 65% of vehicle seizures and 80% of checkpoints conducted last year.
A spokesperson confirmed there is no organisational policy to reduce Roads Policing Unit numbers and said more than 80 members had been allocated to the units over the past 18 months, describing it as the largest allocation of new personnel to any specialist unit in the past year, reports RTE.
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