February 2010 Chief Inspector of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate to Speak at NUI Galway

Kathleen O'Toole, Chief Inspector of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate, will be the keynote speaker at a special networking event hosted by NUI Galway's Child and Family Research Centre. The eighth in a series, the Child and Family Welfare Network Event takes place at 6pm on Tuesday, 9 February, in Áras Moyola, NUI Galway. Kathleen O'Toole will deliver a presentation on 'Youth Justice – Prevention and Intervention', which will be followed by a practitioner response by local Community Garda Ciara Moran. Chief Inspector O'Toole began her career as a patrol officer in the Boston Police Department and rose through the ranks of local and state law enforcement in Massachusetts. She was also a consultant to the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division on police profiling cases, was a member of the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland as part of the Peace Process, and chaired the Boston Fire Department Review Commission. According to Professor Pat Dolan, UNESCO Chair in Children, Youth and Civic Engagement, NUI Galway: "Community-based prevention programmes and community policing offer real world solutions both in supporting young people at risk and those who are in conflict with the law. In the current economic crisis it is crucial that we invest more in preventing youth crime with a view to savings for the taxpayer in the long-term". The Child and Family Welfare Network Event is aimed at practitioners, managers, policy makers and academics working or interested in the area of children and family wellbeing. The bi-annual event aims to allow for discussion, dissemination of information, shared learning and networking with the ultimate aim of improving outcomes for children and families. For further information or to RSVP for the event please contact Carmel Devaney, Child and Family Research Centre at NUI Galway on 091-495733. -Ends-