Dublin Metropolitan Police

1836: reform

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Dublin Police Act 1836[a]
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for improving the Police in the District of Dublin Metropolis.
Citation	6 & 7 Will. 4. c. 29
Territorial extent	United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent	4 July 1836
Commencement	4 July 1836[b]
Repealed	31 January 2013
Other legislation
Amended by	Statute Law Revision Act 1874 Statute Law Revision Act 1890
Repealed by	Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2013
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

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Quick facts Long title, Citation ...

Dublin Police Act 1842[a]
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for improving the Dublin Police.
Citation	5 & 6 Vict. c. 24
Territorial extent	United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent	31 May 1842
Commencement	31 May 1842[b]
Repealed	31 January 2013
Other legislation
Amended by	Dublin Carriage Act 1853
Repealed by	Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2013
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

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In 1836, the county constabularies were merged into a new centralised Constabulary of Ireland, and the Peace Preservation Force ceased to exist.^[2] At the same time separate non-paramilitary forces were set up in the largest cities: Dublin, Belfast, and Derry. A perceived lack of impartiality following rioting in the municipal police forces of Belfast and Derry saw both forces absorbed by the national force in 1865 and 1870 respectively, and only Dublin maintained its separate force.^[2] The DMP was established under the Dublin Police Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will. 4. c. 29) as an unarmed, uniformed force of one thousand day and night constables. The Castle-controlled organisation was more accountable than the untrained constables and night watchmen it replaced.^[1][3]

The 1836 act authorised the "chief governor of Ireland" to establish a police office in Dublin, supported by two salaried justices, to administer the police force which would be under the direction of the Chief Secretary for Ireland.^[3] It also provided for the recruitment and appointment of policemen and the regulation of their conduct.^[3] It also created powers of arrest and made arrangements for the financial affairs of the new force, including new taxation.^[3]

The DMP was modelled closely on London's Metropolitan Police (DMP). Not only were the blue uniforms of the two forces almost indistinguishable, especially after the police custodian helmet and Bath Star were adopted, but the two forces also had a similar organisational structure; rather than a chief constable, they were commanded by a commissioner, who was not a police officer, but a magistrate holding a commission of the peace. The first Commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police was John Lewis More O'Ferrall, brother of Richard More O'Ferrall.^[4] This was descended from the 18th century system of controlling parish constables, and was a sop to the public's fears about the danger of a standing police force under government control.

Distinctions between DMP and RIC

Unlike the armed and rural based gendarmerie style RIC , but in common with civil police forces elsewhere in Great Britain, the DMP remained a force usually equipped only with batons. The RIC were located in small town or village "barracks", although these were often the family houses of individual constables. In contrast to the green uniformed RIC, the DMP wore dark blue with silver insignia.

1880s: Land War

The force came under considerable pressure in the 1880s during the Land War, in which 500 policemen were injured. A series of protest meetings were held and strikes were threatened in 1882.^[3]

1913–14: Dublin Lock-out

Two men died and several hundred people were injured over the course of the five-month Dublin Lock-out, including two hundred policemen. Although the police were involved in "frequent collisions" with union members and used tactics such as baton charges against them, a vice-regal commission cleared them of wrongdoing after the events – though their reputation had suffered considerably.^[3]

1916 onwards

As an unarmed urban force, the DMP did not participate as actively in the Easter Rising of 1916 and War of Independence as did the para-military Royal Irish Constabulary , and as such did not suffer the casualty rate of that para-military force. However DMP Constable James O’Brien (aged 48) was the first fatality in the Rising when he was shot and killed as he denied entry to rebels at the gates to Dublin Castle.^[5] A total of three men were killed and seven injured in the Rising.^[3] A member of the DMP David Neligan, (who was also an IRA agent), records in his book The Spy in the Castle that the majority of the DMP uniformed personnel observed a neutral role during the ensuing "Time of the Troubles" from 1919 to 1921, restricted to traditional policing functions. The political "G" Division did not come off so lightly and selected "G men" were first given warnings by the Irish Republican Army in April 1919. Five members of "G" Division were subsequently killed by the IRA, the first in July 1919. Several DMP officers actively assisted the IRA, most notably^[6] Edward Broy, who passed valuable intelligence to Michael Collins throughout the conflict.

In the 1996 film Michael Collins, Broy is discovered and subsequently tortured and killed by the British. In reality, he was not caught and went on to become the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána in the 1930s. His fate in the film is based on that of Dick McKee, who, with Peadar Clancy and the civilian Conor Clune, was murdered after torture in Dublin Castle on "Bloody Sunday", 21 November 1920.^[7]

After the creation of the Irish Free State, the DMP became known as "Políní Átha Cliath" (Police of Dublin) from 1922 to 1925, after which the force ceased to exist as a separate entity, being absorbed into the Garda Síochána (Guardians of the Peace).^[3] Its last Commissioner was W.R.E. Murphy. "Dublin Metropolitan" is today a geographic region of the Garda Síochána's command structure.