Gardaí Needs to Draw Up a Policy for Combating Prolonged Racist Harassment, Report Says

An Garda Síochána needs a strong policy for tackling cases of repeated racist harassment before they escalate or scar those subjected to it with deep psychological trauma, says a new report from the Irish Network Against Racism (INAR).

Of the 600 reports submitted last year to the network’s iReport.ie platform, 223 were reports of crimes – and 114 of those related to repeat harassment.

“Repeat harassment made up almost half of all racist crime reports in 2022, and included assaults, abuse, threats and criminal damage,” says the study. “This is a particular concern because of the likelihood of escalation.”

Even when gardaí show up and attend a case in line with good practice, “there is continued evidence that the responses are inadequate to protect victim from ongoing abuse and violence”, it says.

Lucy Michael, a sociologist who co-authored the report, says, “Repeat harassment comes up year after year.”

“And repeat harassment is one of the reasons why there are such deep psychological impacts that we note in the report,” Michael said.

For at least five years, she said, INAR, the anti-racism alliance has called on An Garda Síochána to draw up a policy to address it – with no success.

A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána didn’t say if it would consider drawing up a policy to combat prolonged racist harassment.

But they said it’s committed to supporting victims of hate crime by developing enhanced reporting mechanisms, like an online reporting portal and third-party referrals.

“The Garda PULSE system has been updated to capture hate-related motivations for all incidents (both crime and non-crime),” they said.

Confidence in Gardaí

The INAR report covers 223 accounts of criminal offences, 190 cases of discrimination, 42 racist incidents categorised as “other”, 136 hate-speech reports and 10 further reports that couldn’t be easily classified, it says.

It found that racist assault rates haven’t dipped, remaining as high as in previous years. Strangers were usually perpetrators of racist assaults in 2022, it says.

Confidence in the guards to tackle harassment remains low, which is also in step with previous years, finds the report. That’s despite the roll-out of the Garda Diversity and Integration Strategy, it says.

“This has been the subject of comment in this report for several years and continues to be a concern,” according to the report.

Michael, the report’s co-author, said that Gardaí have made some progress, attempting to take racism seriously.

But among the submitters were those still concerned that things will worsen if they go to the Gardaí, she said. “For many people, it’s on the basis of hearing other people’s experience with the guards.”

“What a community experiences is very important because it informs what other people will do in the future,” Michael says.

Fear of investigation into their immigration statuses and the prospect of deportation, for example, is one reason undocumented migrants are reluctant to report abuse to the Gardaí.

Michael said it’s worrying that fewer people among their submitters reported racist crimes to the Gardaí compared to previous years.

“Which does concern me especially since the Gardaí have taken those extra efforts in the last few years,” she said.

A Garda spokesperson said it’s strongly committed to respectful and proactive engagement with all members of society. “In particular, persons from minority groups and diverse backgrounds.”

It takes hate crime seriously, the spokesperson said.

“Every Hate Crime reported to An Garda Síochána is professionally investigated and victims supported during the criminal justice process,” they said.

It has about 481 trained Garda Diversity Officers (GDOs) – formerly known as Ethnic Liaison Officers – across every division too, they said.

“Whose role is to liaise with representatives of the various minority / diverse communities in their division,” the spokesperson said.

GDOs work to form communication links with minority groups and make sure they are aware that Gardaí supports them, they said.

Prolonged

The INAR report includes snippets of peoples’ experiences of racist crime and abuse and how they sometimes felt helpless facing them.

One recounted prolonged harassment from their landlord, who didn’t like the food they cooked and told them to stop cooking at home, threatening eviction.

“The tenant has developed severe stress as they live with their landlord and is in risk of an eating disorder as a result,” it says.

It says they had reported the issue to the Gardaí, Threshold and Residential Tenancies Board (RTB). “But they all responded that nothing can be done,” according to the report.

A Brazilian woman had reported three years of harassment by neighbours who were watching her through binoculars and had threatened that they’d have her evicted.

“They regularly verbally abuse her with racial slurs,” it says.

Young adults and schoolchildren are especially vulnerable to repeat harassment, found the study, listing accounts of racist bullying that kids of colour faced in 2022.

It mentions an eight-year-old child who had experienced persistent racist bullying.

Her family reported it to the Gardaí, it says. The guards “said a car would be sent, but there was no further contact”, according to the report.

“Repeat harassment was reported by students at school and college in 20 cases,” it says.

A spokesperson for the Gardaí said: “An Garda Síochána does not comment on anecdotal reports attributed to anonymised parties which may or may not have been directly reported to An Garda Síochána.”

Reporting to INAR ramped up compared to the previous year when it recorded 404 accounts of racist crimes.

Michael, the report’s co-author, said that worries her too since the Gardaí now has its own online reporting portal.

“Then I would expect the numbers reporting to iReport to drop,” she said.

Like in 2021, reports from Traveller and Roma communities made up the lowest number of submissions to iReport, while Black people reported racist crimes or incidents the most.

“Travellers reported 6 percent of crime or other racist incidents. Roma people reported 5 percent of crime or other racist incidents,” says the report.

That is not because they didn’t experience much prejudice last year, Michael says.

“They are the most discriminated against in Ireland, and their experiences of reporting and of getting satisfaction, have been very low,” she said.

The Toll

The report highlights the psychological toll of racist crime, saying 90 percent of those who reported racist incidents or crimes to iReport said facing them was traumatic.

Michael says inadequate responses to prevent repeat harassment make things worse, especially when perpetrators are people the victim has to deal with every day.

“If somebody has to live with that threat of violence, but also the psychological impact of that on a daily basis, it is extremely harmful,” she said,

Its impact is far-reaching, affecting the person’s community and family too.

“You can’t have people living in that psychological fear all the time,” she said.

To tackle prolonged racist harassment, Michael said, the Gardaí needs a policy like the one in place to support domestic abuse victims.

The policy equips the Gardaí with the knowledge to recognise domestic abuse situations even when the victim fears coming forward, she said.

“And it signposts domestic violence particular services, but there is no specialist policy or signposting for victims of racism or any identity-related harassment,” Michael said.