Ireland Garda Siochana Tender

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has today announced that An Garda Sochna is to immediately begin the process of procuring bodyworn cameras for frontline Garda.Following a Cabinet meeting at which Government discussed how to equip An Garda Sochna with the necessary tools and technologies to build stronger safer communities Minister McEntee said Garda Commissioner Drew Harris will now begin tendering for the purchase of bodyworn cameras.The Minister said these are crucial to improving safety of members of frontline Garda as well as assisting in the investigation of crime.Following consultation with Government colleagues the Minister also today said the use of Facial Recognition Technology will be provided for separately in the new Garda Sochna Digital Management and Facial Recognition Technology Bill 2023.The Minister said this Bill will be drafted on a priority basis to provide for the safe and ethical use of Facial Recognition Technology to assist Garda to investigate the most serious crimes which are subject to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.These include Threats to national security and critical infrastructure Homicide Rape and aggravated sexual assault Child sexual abuse Abduction including child abduction The most serious violent offences often committed against vulnerable victims - these are robbery aggravated burglary and assault causing serious harmMinister McEntee saidTodays Government decision allows An Garda Sochna to immediately begin the process of procuring bodyworn cameras vital and modern policing equipment which will better protect frontline Garda and strengthen their ability to deliver on their duty to deter detect and investigate crime. This modern technology is a key tool for frontline Garda and represents a practical expression of our commitment to build stronger safer communities. I believe it isessential to delivering on Governments aim to ensure An Garda Sochna is a leading edge modern police service fit for the digital age.As Minister for Justice I know from my regular engagements with individual frontline Garda and the Garda Commissioner how valuable bodyworn cameras will be for Garda membersWe see now how Gardai are often selectively filmed themselves without access to their own technology to record accurate footage.Bodyworn cameras will also be vital to tackling crimes such as domestic violence. The first moments when a Garda arrives on the scene are so often crucial in protecting victims and ensuring that in the event of a prosecution they can access justice.Of course we must also have the most up to date technology to allow Gardai process what the Garda Commissioner has described as an explosion in the use of digital data in criminal investigations. We cannot continue to have an analogue police service in a digital ageWithout adequate data analysis tools the length of criminal investigations will increase potentially threatening public safety and delaying victims access to justice. It is imperative that An Garda Sochna can utilise modern technology with appropriate safeguards to increase efficiencies within the organisation and ensure that policing expertise is utilised in the most effective and strategic manner. That is why I firmly believe Facial Recognition Technology is also vital to ensuring that Gardai can do their jobs most effectively.Minister McEntee also today secured Cabinet approval to progress the current Garda Sochna Recording Devices Bill 2022 in the Oireachtas as a priority in the coming weeks. This will allow for the legislative underpinning for the use of bodyworn cameras.The bodycams to be procured by An Garda Sochna will include Facial Recognition Technology FRT software to ensure they can also be fully used in line with the new Bill to be drafted.Under the forthcoming Bill FRT would only be used retrospectively to search images which they already do manually and which are already legally in the possession of An Garda Sochna.It is proposed that An Garda Sochna would use those images and categories of images which they are already legally entitled to maintain to run FRT against when authorised to do so.Minister McEntee saidTime is so often of the essence in investigations. Garda need to be able to search for suspects and evidence quickly there may be a suspect in a murder a child who is missing or abducted or a child subject to abuse.A current Garda investigation now can involve teams of Garda spending several months trawling through thousands of hours of CCTV footage manually potentially to find only a short few clips which can lead to the identification of a suspect or a victim.In a digital age murder investigations can include thousands of hours of footage that needs to be analysed by Garda. In one murder investigation 42000 hours of CCTV from 150 locations had to be manually analysed by a team of Garda. Such uses of FRT in particular represent substantial advances in terms of efficiency accuracy and even privacy.For children who are victims of child abuse it is often the case that the only way to identify them is by consulting investigation databases of child abuse images and comparing images. Some of these dreadfully abusive images may be years old but some may be new images of children being abused today. Facial recognition technology is essential when examining these international databases which can contain millions of records. French law enforcement have provided examples of FRT being used to successfully identify and prosecute perpetrators in rape child sexual assaults and burglary cases.I firmly believe that bodycams and FRT are required to ensure that An Garda Siochana is a fully equipped modern police service operating in a digital age but I also acknowledge that some people hold legitimate concerns around the use of such technology.