The Garda Representative Association has called for Tasers to be given to all frontline gardaí after new figures showed that a dozen officers were injured in the line of duty each week last year. The association said 181 gardaí had been injured while working so far this year. “Similarly, body-cams are a vital tool in ensuring that incidents are captured for all parties concerned and our members’ mental health is thus protected,” he added. Annual conferenceResearch on the physical and mental wellbeing of rank-and-file members of the force will be presented next week at the association’s annual conference in Wexford. The existing 24/7 counselling service for gardaí is welcome, Mr O’Keeffe said, but “unfortunately it operates as merely a band aid to a much bigger wound”.

Source: The Irish Times May 25, 2018 18:56 UTC