Garda Complaints Board look to British police inspectorate
Gordon Holmes, chairman of the Garda Complaints Board (GCB), will travel to London with the Department of Justice assistant general secretary Michael Flahive to meet senior members of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
“We will meet with the chair and higher executive members of the commission to see what they’re doing and how they are going about their job,” said Mr Holmes.
The IPCC was set up over a year ago and is due formally to take over the complaints procedure in April.
“They have a staff of about 250 at the moment and their powers are quite wide, similar to the Northern Ireland Ombudsman.” The Limerick-based solicitor said he had a long list of questions regarding the operation of the IPCC. “I want to know about their powers, how quickly they can go in, at what level do they take over investigations, what are considered serious cases and how they decide that.” Mr Holmes said he was concerned about practical aspects of the new complaints structures here.
“If guards can refuse to answer questions, you really are going to be little better off. Irish people have a constitutional right not to incriminate themselves, but for the purpose of disciplinary procedure you may want to compel gardaí to answer questions, with the answer only useable in disciplinary procedures, and not useable in criminal prosecutions against them.”
The IPCC was set up as a replacement for the Police Complaints Authority after a series of reports expressed concern over its effectiveness. Mr Holmes said the same teething issues are likely to apply here when the GCB is replaced by a garda ombudsman.
“What do we do in the interregnum? We’ll have to leave existing cases. If a complaint is made to us under existing law, I don’t see how, under the constitution, the present complaints board won’t have to finish (the case) out.”
