Domestic violence groups welcome improved 999 system

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and Policing Authority chairman Bob Collins during a press conference after their livestreamed meeting at The Policing Authority in Dublin. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Domestic violence support groups have welcomed reported improvements in the emergency 999 system, but urge the need for all call-takers and responding gardaí to be appropriately trained and supervised.

Last Tuesday, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris made an appeal to people who are victims of domestic violence, or who are in active danger, to immediately ring 999 and seek help from gardaí.

“It is a very much a regrettable fact of life and policing that the amount of domestic abuse cases reported to An Garda Síochána, as with many other police services, they do increase over the Christmas period,” the commissioner told a meeting of the Policing Authority.

“And so we would say to any victim immediately make contact with An Garda Síochána. Use the treble nine system to get assistance immediately, particularly if you’ve been a victim or you are in active danger.”

He made the same request to victims of other crimes, saying: “The treble nine system is there for you as well. We’ve made a huge investment in our Garda Safe command control processes, and that will reap benefit in terms of quality service provided, but [I make] a particular mention around domestic abuse and the inevitable spike there’ll be over the holiday period, as we’ve seen in other years.”

Safe Ireland CEO Mary McDermott welcomed 'the attention and investment' in the Garda Safe (Cad II) system but emphasised the need for training for all staff. Picture: Leon Farrell/RollingNews

The 999 Computer Aided Dispatch (Cad) was embroiled in controversy in recent years after information emerged that a large volume of calls were cancelled, including ones that should not have been cancelled, and concerns that callers not responded to were domestic violence victims.

The Policing Authority commissioned an independent examination of the system, conducted by Derek Penman. The authority recently asked him to examine the work that gardaí have done to address problems in the system.

Authority chairman Bob Collins said they had just received his report, which will be examined in detail.

“But it important to say that it paints a very positive picture of a great deal of the work that has been done,” said Mr Collins.

The Garda Safe system (Cad II) has integrated the Garda Cad and Pulse systems to ensure that a Pulse incident is automatically created when a crime-related Cad incident is closed.

This system was introduced in part as a quality assurance mechanism to prevent a scenario where a crime reported by a member of the public was not recorded on Pulse.

Responding to the reported improvements in the system and the call from the commissioner, Mary McDermott, chief executive officer of Safe Ireland, said: “999 calls are both a desperate last resort and first point of contact for victims of domestic violence.

“Safe Ireland welcomes the attention and investment into this system within An Garda Síochána, but we reiterate the need for advanced domestic violence training and oversight of all staff to ensure 999 calls provide protection from perpetrators, and appropriate management of all domestic crime through the justice system.”

Safe Ireland, which represents refuge services, has expressed concern at “unprofessional responses to 999 calls” stemming from a lack of training about the nature of domestic violence.

Earlier this month, Garda HQ said over 54,000 domestic abuse reports had been received, an 8% increase over the same period in 2022.