Call for Research: The experience of policing in Ireland by diverse and minority communities

A call has been announced for research applications on ‘The experience of policing in Ireland by diverse and minority communities’, published by The Policing Authority, established as an independent body to oversee the performance of the Garda Síochána in relation to policing services in Ireland. One of its key objectives is to promote trust and confidence in policing and to help shape policing services for Ireland in the future.

The tender can be accessed on etenders with ID no. 206781

The tender closes on 25 April 2022 with final queries closing 18 April 2022.

All questions can be directed to the team via etenders but if you are having technological issues please contact Dr. Aoife Delaney at axdelaney@policingauthority.ie.

Background

Policing diverse and minority communities poses a challenge to every police service, including the Garda Síochána. It involves a mixture of complex issues including societal biases, prejudice, language barriers, different cultural practices and beliefs, and historical experiences with law enforcement. These issues have an impact on the volume and nature of interactions between the police and members of diverse and minority communities, resulting for example in ‘under-policing’ or ‘over-policing’ and profiling, including racial profiling. This in turn can affect levels of trust and confidence in the police, perceptions of police legitimacy, cooperation with officers, and confidence to report hate crimes.

The objective of this commissioned research is to achieve a better understanding of the way members of diverse and minority communities in Ireland are currently experiencing and perceiving policing. As this research may form part of a wider piece of work in the future, the Authority is not identifying in advance a particular minority community, ethnic, national, colour or racial group. However, the research project must include at least two different groups, provide a clear rationale for the selection of the groups, and discuss intersectionality.

In order to encourage inclusion and collaboration of grassroots and other representative groups, the Authority would welcome in particular partnerships between researchers and grassroots/civil society groups. The Authority acknowledges that developing those connections takes time, and is therefore offering a longer than usual period for submitting applications.