Social Democrats would back ‘fair’ stop and search powers to tackle violence

The Social Democrats have called for the Government to legislate for “fair” stop and search powers to tackle violence on Dublin’s streets.

Publishing the party’s violence reduction policy, Gary Gannon said the Government must ensure gardai use stop and search powers fairly.

The Dublin TD said that new powers must come with independent oversight, data collection and monitoring to “prevent and respond to racial profiling”.

It comes as the Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said he will strengthen knife crime laws, which will give greater power to gardai to stop and search people suspected of carrying knives.

He made the remarks in response to recent knife attacks in Dublin, which resulted in serious injuries and a death.

Mr O’Callaghan has called on opposition parties to support the Garda Powers Bill, which will give gardai more stop and search powers.

Mr Gannon also called for an increase in garda patrols in areas known to experience higher levels of violence, “focusing on deterrence and working with communities rather than punitive crackdowns”.

The TD said that “fair” stop and search powers are based on the oversight mechanism.

“You would have heard Jim O’Callaghan recently talk about needing support from the opposition when it comes to the (garda) body-worn cameras. He said he would need support from the opposition when it comes to stop and search. So that support, for me, can only come if there’s a proper oversight mechanism there.

“So the first stop and search has to be able to justify why this particular category of person was stopped. What was found in that person.

“Last week, we talked about the fact that knife possession has increased over the last few years but we weren’t able to have any evidence in terms of how many people were stopped as we didn’t have enough evidence, for example, as there’s no comparison to it.

“So the first stop and search will actually have to be evidence-based and controlled. There’s oversight to it, and you’ll be able to justify who’s been stopped and for what reason, that makes everybody safer.”

He said this would include ethic identifiers, as well as age, gender and justification to being stopped.

Mr Gannon said he can understand why gardai want these powers but said that safety mechanisms must be built into the legislation.