11.5          Garda Investigations

School authorities and teachers should be concerned to assist the Gardaí in all reasonable ways in the investigation of crime. Like every citizen, they are obliged by law not to obstruct the Gardaí. However, they do have obligations towards students.

If the Gardaí come to arrest a student,  they should not be obstructed. But, if they come to question a student, care should be taken. Normally, a student should only be questioned by the Gardaí in the presence of the student’s parents or guardians. If the Gardaí request an interview with a student on school premises care should be taken to:

a)      establish whether there is any objection to the student’s parent/s being present or at least informed of the Garda request;

b)      advise the student that the Gardaí wish to question her/him; advise the student (preferably in front of      a witness) that s/he may refuse to be interviewed;

c)      have a member of staff present, in loco parentis, throughout the interview, if it goes ahead;

d)     ensure that the teacher present, in loco parentis, does not in any way induce or coerce the student to co‑operate or to make admissions; (The teacher, acting in loco parentis, should be of the same sex as the student who is being interviewed.)

e)      write up an aide-memoire describing the details of the incident and file it for the record.

Juvenile Liaison Service

Many of the urban Garda stations have specialists in dealing with juvenile misdemeanours. The Juvenile Liaison Officer is a non-uniformed Garda who investigates and processes the minor offences of juveniles. S/he brings a social work dimension to investigative work. The Juvenile Liaison Officer spends much time in counselling and monitoring young offenders and endeavours to steer them away from crime. Normally, an offender is not brought to court for a minor offence, especially a first offence. Instead, the offender is brought before a Garda Superintendent and given a formal caution.

The Juvenile Liaison service is one which depends to a great extent on the goodwill and co-operation of schools.