New Garda callout system to be rolled out by year's end

Garda commissioner Drew Harris had previously pointed to the current CAD system for the failings which led to the 999 cancelled calls controversy. File picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

A new computer-aided dispatch system for An Garda Síochána callouts is set to finally go live in the final quarter of this year — but only in the Dublin region.

The next-generation dispatch system, which is set to replace its predecessor — first introduced in the late 1980s — has been developed at a cost of €13.5m.

The immediate replacement of the original CAD system — which went live in 1987 — was first recommended by the Garda Inspectorate more than 10 years ago, in 2009.

The antiquated nature of the current system has become especially controversial in light of the Garda 999 calls issue, which saw thousands of emergency calls from vulnerable people ‘cancelled’ before an official Pulse record could be created.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee, in response to a query from Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy, said  the new CAD system had been procured in order to “support the regional control room structure and replace the existing system”.

She said the new system would “incorporate the latest control room technology, including mapping, mobile computing, automatic vehicle and persona location, and digital radio and telephone integration”.

A rollout for the system is “envisaged” to occur over the final three months of 2022 in the Dublin Metropolitan Region, and across the rest of the country in 2023.

Ms McEntee said the system would be operational in four Garda regional control rooms, and would be accessible on mobile devices used by frontline gardaí.

999 calls scandal

The 999 calls scandal has seen 200,000 cancelled emergency calls reviewed retrospectively, with the main focus being on 3,000 calls relating to domestic violence or sexual assault.

Last October, assistant Garda commissioner Anne Marie McMahon asserted “no harm” had been caused by the force’s initial lack of engagement with 114 of the cancelled calls, which have since been deemed to have involved a crime.

However, the Sunday Times reported last week that some of the emergency calls had related to grievous crimes, including rape, domestic violence, and assaults on women and children.

Garda commissioner Drew Harris had previously pointed to the current CAD system for the failings which led to the cancelled calls, telling the Policing Authority last October that “at a certain point we can only do what is humanly possible with the system that we have”.

As at the end of last May, 55 separate disciplinary files have been opened by the gardaí’s internal affairs division regarding the cancellation of domestic violence calls. However, no indicative timeline has been given as to when those disciplinary procedures may conclude.

Just three gardaí were sanctioned for abusing the force’s communications and data systems in the two years from 2019 to 2020, where the more than 200,000 emergency calls had been cancelled.