Complaints led to three actions on gardai

LESS than 1% of all admissible complaints against gardaí handled by the Garda Síochána Complaints Board in the past two years has resulted in a criminal prosecution.

Although the Board received 1,370 admissible complaints between 2000-2001, figures to be released today show only three legal actions were taken against members of the force by the DPP.

The Board's annual reports for 2000 and 2001 show a total of 364 complaints against individual gardaí were referred to the DPP. Under legislation, all admissible complaints that contain allegations of an offence must be forwarded to the DPP.

However, the Board admitted that delays in processing complaints meant it could not provide the DPP with a file within the statutory six-month time limit required to bring a summary prosecution.

"In these circumstances the right of the DPP to consider whether a member of the Garda Síochána should be prosecuted arising from a complaint has effectively been removed,” said the 2001 report. (Publication of the 2000 report, due last year, was held over due to delays in compiling statistics.)

The Board also described as “a matter of the utmost concern” the slow rate of progress in introducing video recording of interviews and the installation of CCTV in Garda stations around the country. "Not only would this act as a protection to individuals in Garda custody, it would also serve as a protection to gardaí against whom false or unsound complaints are made,” it noted.

The Board's chairman, Séamus McKenna welcomed the fact the number of complaints had fallen to 1,281 in 2001 from a total of 1,309 in the previous year. Approximately half of all cases in both years were judged inadmissible.

The majority of these were ruled out of consideration because the complaint did not constitute an offence or breach of discipline. Around one in four inadmissible complaints are dismissed on vexatious grounds. Over 60% of complaints relate to alleged abuse of authority, while one-fifth related to claims of discourtesy.

Concern was also expressed over the fact that Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne had appointed Inspectors to investigate a majority of complaints, contrary to legislation which said only officers above the rank of Superintendent should be used, except in rare circumstances.

The Board itself has regularly expressed concern about the general lack of public confidence in the existing Garda complaints system.

But it has welcomed proposals by former Justice Minister John O'Donoghue in October 2001 to implement new procedures for processing complaints against gardaí. However, the Board expressed disappointment it would play no role in the Government's plans for a new Garda Inspectorate to investigate complaints independently.

Eight of 17 serious complaints referred by the Board to a three-person Tribunal between 2000 and 2001 resulted in findings against gardaí. It recommended the resignation of the officer in two cases.

The Board noted that while 792 complaints remained on file at the end of 2001 - compared to 908 at the end of 2000 - additional resources would be needed to reduce this figure significantly. It acknowledged the time

taken to process a complaint was “less than satisfactory”. It takes an average of around seven months to investigate a complaint, compared to Board's official target of four months. One in four cases takes over 12 months to finalise.