The garda headquarters in Renmore will henceforth serve as Regional Headquarters for the entire west and north of Ireland in an operational shakeup.
An Garda Síohana announced a new Operational Model this week that will see the number of regions and their garda headquarters reduced from six to four, and the number of garda divisions cut from 28 to 19.
The Western Region Garda Headquarters in Renmore were opened by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan in July of last year to replace Mill St’s regional role.
The 11,000sq ft facility is meant to house a 250 officers and contains modern facilities such as new custody facilites, a firing range, and a new established regional dog unit.
It will now serve as the North Western Region Headquarters, amalgamating the old Northern and Western regions.
There will be four divisions within the new North Western Region: Galway, based out of Renmore; Mayo/Roscommon/Longford, based out of Castlebar, Co. Mayo; Donegal/Sligo/Leitrim, based out of Letterkenny; and Cavan/Monaghan/Louth, based out of Drogheda.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said that this change will mean large divisions with more resources which will be strongly focused on community policing.
Under the new model Chief Superintendents and Superintendents will be empowered to decide how to deliver policing within their divisions the Commission said.
“In addition, our new Operating Model will enhance the investigation of crime through the delivery of a greater range of specialised services in local areas such as the investigation of sexual crime, domestic violence, cyber crime, and economic crime.”
“Each Division will be provided with a Detective Superintendent who along with trained investigators in specialist areas will be responsible for local crime investigation. Complex or highly technical crimes will generally be dealt with at national level.”
The amalgamation of the regions has already commenced and the shakeup will be introduced to garda divisions on a phased basis.
