Gardaí 'could have prevented doubt' created by 999 call controversy

Policing Authority says An Garda Síochána could have been 'more forthcoming'

Policing Authority chairman Bob Collins said it was not clear if the reality of the 'very considerable risks' resulting from the 999 call controversy was fully appreciated by everyone in An Garda Síochána. File picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

An Garda Síochána could have prevented a lot of the “uncertainty and doubt” created by the 999 call controversy if it had been “more forthcoming” from the outset, the head of the Policing Authority has said.

Commenting in the authority’s 2021 annual report, chairman Bob Collins said it was not clear if the reality of the “very considerable risks” resulting from it was fully appreciated by everyone in the organisation.

In his foreword, he said the inadequate recording of, or response to, emergency calls was “a matter of great seriousness” and one of considerable concern to the public.

“Much of the uncertainty and doubt created might have been avoided had the Garda Síochána been more forthcoming with the Authority and with the public and had the very good work that was undertaken when the nature of the problem was first identified in September 2020 been more directly and openly linked to the nature of the circumstances involved,” said Mr Collins.

He said the authority commissioned an external independent examiner, former Scottish police chief Derek Penman, to review and report on the issues and that his work continues.

“This was and is a very serious issue, one that had very considerable risks attached,” said Mr Collins. 

It is not at all clear that the reality of those risks, although fully appreciated by the Commissioner, is shared across the entire organisation.

"A key priority of the Authority’s work, and that of the Garda Síochána, is to ensure that the confidence of the public in the emergency call system is preserved and strengthened.” 

The report said that the authority was advised by Garda HQ in December 2020 that an issue had arisen concerning the cancellation of 999 calls and that it has started an examination of Priority 1 calls on the computer-aided dispatch system.

It subsequently emerged that more than 20,000 calls were cancelled without explanation, including 2,000 domestic violence calls, and that these were subject to a detailed internal Garda investigation.

Mr Penman issued an interim report last November and found information provided by callers was not accurately recorded and gardaí had been sent to the wrong locations.

The review also identified supervision issues, but his work was hampered by not being allowed to listen to the 999 calls, with Garda HQ citing data protection reasons.

This has been subject to lengthy discussions. The most recent minutes of meetings, from last May, between the Policing Authority and Garda HQ said Mr Penman had started the next phase of his work, but that the Department of Justice has been notified about the legal issues.

Disciplinary files

Also, last May, Commissioner Drew Harris said some 55 disciplinary files have been opened internally in relation to cancelled domestic violence calls.

In other issues highlighted in the report foreword, Mr Collins said the risks to which gardaí are exposed were again revealed in the incidents where members were shot, attacked, or subjected to assaults of various kinds.

“All such attacks are utterly condemned by the Authority,” he said. “They are a reminder that community safety cannot be secured without risk and, sometimes, at considerable personal cost.” 

He said the work of gardaí during the Covid restrictions demonstrated “the closeness of the relationship” between gardaí and the community and singled out Operation Faoiseamh, targeting victims of domestic violence.