Irish Examiner View: Investigation constraints on sexual and domestic abuse are a worry

Garda units set up to investigate domestic abuse and sexual crimes are so overburdened that they are limited by what they can investigate

The revelation that specialist Garda units established to investigate domestic abuse and sexual crimes are so overburdened that they are limited by what they can investigate will send a shiver down the spine of many.

While official Garda sources highlight that more than 300 gardaí are now working on domestic violence cases, a more sobering analysis was highlighted at the annual Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors annual conference, where it emerged that Divisional Protective Service Units (DPSUs) are not responding to domestic abuse cases because they have so many sexual offence investigations to deal with.

The AGSI conference in Killarney heard that gardaí are not delivering services they are expected to simply because they do not have the capacity to do so.

Previously, child protection units within the gardaí investigated all sexual allegations against children. However, when the DPSUs were set up a little over a year ago, all cases were referred to them. Now we have a serious backlog and domestic abuse, as well as some sex crimes, are not being investigated at all.

Child sexual cases and rape cases are being actively investigated by the DPSUs, but the only domestic abuse cases that are being actively looked into are incidents of domestic rape. Thus cases involving such cruel and insidious crimes as coercive control, domestic abuse, and historical rapes are being sent back to individual detective units. This seems like it is a case where a change in procedure was supposed to generate positivity but has instead done the opposite.

Praise

Despite praise for gardaí for their handling of domestic abuse from Justice Minister Helen McEntee earlier in the week, it has now emerged instead that because of manpower issues, all too many domestic abuse cases are not being investigated at all.

Anyone involved in an abusive relationship at home once believed that they always had the gardaí to fall back on if the situation got out of control for any reason. Those people now know the safety net provided to them by gardaí is at best flawed or, at worst, non-existent.

An admission by senior Garda authorities that there is a “dire” lack of senior investigating officers which “should” be corrected by a new promotional process will settle few nerves, either within the community at large or within the force itself.