An Garda Síochána is now preparing a new three year strategy that will cover the period of 2013 to 2015.
In preparing this strategy, we are actively seeking the views of those within the communities we serve. In light of the fact that An Garda Síochána has limited resources and is faced with a wide range of service demands we would appreciate the views of the public on prioritising, developing and improving those services.
An Garda Síochána is now preparing a new three year strategy that will cover the period of 2013 to 2015. In preparing this strategy, we are actively seeking the views of those within the communities we serve. In light of the fact that An Garda Síochána has limited resources and is faced with a wide range of service demands we would appreciate the views of the public on prioritising, developing and improving those services.
In order to try and obtain those views an extensive consultation process has begun. As part of this process a questionnaire has been placed on the Garda website. All members of the public are invited to complete the short questionnaire which should take no longer than ten minutes. In addition, An Garda Síochána will be holding face to face meetings with some of our main stakeholders with whom we engage with on a regular basis. We will be writing to in excess of 300 other agencies/groups. Invitations for submissions from the public will also be invited by way of public notices in national newspapers in the coming weeks.
An Garda Síochána has used Twitter and Facebook to highlight this opportunity for the public to provide us with feedback. To date the 28h June 2012, over 700 people have completed the questionnaire. This facility will be available until the end of July and Gardai urge as many as possible to assist us by completing the questionnaire.
Background:
An Garda Síochána’s role, administration and operation is grounded and described in primary legislation, the Garda Síochána Act 2005. In particular, the organisation’s Strategic Planning process, which includes the formulation strategy statements, annual policing plans and the publication of annual reports, is detailed in the legislation. This process facilitates extensive public consultation and the inclusion of Government priorities and those of the Minister for Justice and Equality. It should be noted the Garda organisation has since 1993 utilised Corporate Strategic Planning to plan and guide the operations of the organisation.
In more recent years, and with the under-pinning legislation, the focus of the strategies and plans has been -
performance and delivery
clarity of goals and targets and
the measurement of performance.
Strategy Statements, Annual Policing Plans, goals, measurable targets and performance indicators are all agreed and approved by the Minister and the Government.
The Strategy Statements and Annual Policing Plans are performance managed by the Commissioner and his senior management team. End of year performance figures are reported annually to the Minister for Justice and Equality and published in An Garda Síochána’s annual report. Mirroring this process is the work of the Central Statistics Office which has independent responsibility to collate, analyse and publish related statistics.
This framework is a modern, proven robust strategic planning and performance management structure which provides for accountability and transparency.
