Gardaí undermining internal investigations

SOME investigations into alleged ill-treatment by gardaí are being undermined by the officers carrying out the investigation, the head of the Garda Complaints Board (GCB) said yesterday.

Gordon Holmes, chairman of the GCB, said some investigators delayed their investigation until such a time as the garda complained of had retired.

He said that once a garda retired, the garda complaints procedure could not touch the officer.

“Sometimes there seems to be a general conspiracy to delay the investigation until the garda has retired. Once they retire we no longer have control over the case. That is worrying.”

Speaking in the wake of the RTÉ Prime Time investigation into alleged garda ill-treatment, Mr Holmes said some investigations were taking an extraordinary length of time.

“Some cases seem to be taking an unconscionably long time and then we realise too late the guard is coming up to retirement and others have cooperated in it.”

He said the GCB wants the Justice Minister Michael McDowell to close this loophole in the forthcoming legislation setting up the new garda ombudsman.

“Once the new ombudsman starts they should see it through to the finish regardless of the consequences of the garda retiring,” he said.

His comments follow the revelation by the Director of Public Prosecutions recently that the vast majority of files sent to him on alleged garda mistreatment arrive too late for a summary prosecution to be taken.

Mr Holmes said this was because the GCB had no control over the speed or effectiveness of the investigation. He said they still had investigations going back to 2001 that had still to be completed by the investigating officer. Mr Holmes said the new ombudsman should be able to force a garda to answer questions for the purpose of a disciplinary hearing. In return, the garda would be reassured that this information could not be used for criminal prosecutions.

Mr Holmes also criticised gardaí for not using the informal resolution mechanism to resolve the large number of, more minor, complaints, such as rude behaviour or bad language. A Department of Justice spokesperson said that a garda complained of will not be able to avoid investigation by retiring from the force under the forthcoming legislation.