Garda training, resources to improve after crisis review

THE number of gardaí trained to use guns will increase and all members will wear bullet-proof vests and carry pepper spray on the beat as part of the force’s response to the Abbeylara siege.

The changes are among 84 recommended by the Garda Inspectorate to improve handling of siege and hostage situations, many of the recommendations focusing on the safety of officers deployed to such “barricade incidents”.

The review was prompted by the publication last year of the Barr Tribunal report into the Abbeylara incident in April 2000.

In that case, the only casualty was 27-year-old local man, John Carthy, a manic depressive, who was shot dead by the Emergency Response Unit following a 25-hour stand-off at his Co Longford home.

Another key recommendation is that family members and other third parties be prohibited from attempting to negotiate with a barricade subject. In his report, Justice Robert Barr was critical of gardaí for refusing to allow Mr Carthy’s sister, Marie, who was his only sibling and a close confidante, to talk to her brother at the siege scene.

However, inspectorate head, Chief Inspector Kathleen O’Toole, said that a garda negotiator who handed over a phone or loudspeaker to a third party lost control of the discussion.

“Family members may be able to send written messages or tape messages to be seen or heard or viewed by the subject,” she said.

Doctors and lawyers would be allowed to talk with the subject, but would be strictly confined to imparting only professional advice, while psychiatrists and psychologists would be made available for consultation by gardaí only.

“We have been advised against having a mental health professional speak to the subject,” she said.

Justice Barr criticised gardaí for failing to get a solicitor for Mr Carthy as he requested, and for failing to contact his psychiatrist until late into the incident.

The Barr report also found that garda inexperience, conflict over ranks, confusion over responsibilities and basic disorganisation led to Mr Carthy’s death.

Its key recommendation — that gardaí be properly resourced, trained and organised to deal with such incidents — has been taken on board by the inspectorate. It recommends that gardaí of superintendent rank receive annual training as on-scene commanders and that a constant pool of 30 commanders be available to be deployed at any time.

It says the current pool of 23 trained negotiators should be maintained so that no negotiator would spend more than 12 successive hours on duty.

Negotiators would assist regularly on crisis help lines to give them ongoing experience.