Garda investigations into serious crimes are being seriously undermined by data protection regulations and legislation limiting the force’s ability to publicly share images and CCTV of suspects, senior officers have told The Irish Times.
The release last month of 99 images of “persons of interest” from the Dublin riots has been welcomed by Garda investigators, with names nominated for 90 of those people. But gardaí told The Irish Times they are being prevented from releasing images of suspects in their own investigations because of legal constraints.
Garda Headquarters’ legal advice is that gardaí must be much more conservative than police forces in the UK and other parts of Europe for fear of breaching GDPR regulations and data protection laws.
When rioting broke out in multiple locations in Britain during the summer, for example, police forces immediately publicly shared images of suspects. As a result, many were quickly identified and charged within days. Other European police forces, and Interpol, regularly make public images of suspects wanted for questioning or arrest.
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While GDPR regulations apply across Europe, some nations have different interpretations of the rules for the processing, and release, of data. In the Republic, sources said, the definition of lawful grounds for processing data under GDPR regulations is preventing gardaí from releasing images in the same broad, and immediate, way other police forces do.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said the Garda had “a particular interpretation around the Data Protection Act” that meant the UK-style release of images or videos of suspects was not possible in the Republic. Under that Act, images can only be released in the investigation of crime when it is “necessary and proportionate”.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties expressed concern at the release of the 99 Dublin riot images last month. Its senior policy officer on surveillance, Olga Cronin, told The Irish Times a “national conversation” was required if the Garda planned to take a more liberal approach to the sharing of images. A person’s right to the presumption of innocence, and a fair trial, may be adversely impacted if their photograph was circulated, she said.
The main reason why images of “persons of interest” from the Dublin riots were released was because the event was regarded as an exceptional case. All efforts had also been exhausted, over a period of a year, to try to identify the people in the images. As a result of those two factors, Garda Headquarters believed the force had lawful grounds to share the images.
Garda management believed the release of the images was a justifiable investigative technique, in one single investigation, rather than as a broader UK-style release of rogues’ galleries of suspects. The Garda uses the same criteria to carefully select images of suspects for release on RTÉ’s Crimecall TV series.
However, Garda sources said waiting for a year after a crime to release images or CCTV was far too long. Many gardaí believe the force’s interpretation of what constitutes lawful grounds to share images is far too conservative.
In reply to queries, Garda Headquarters confirmed CCTV footage, EvoFit sketches of suspects and other images were released on Crimecall “based on the investigative strategy of the specific crime that has occurred”.
“An Garda Síochána does not release such items to the media or public in the absence of a definitive policing purpose,” it said, adding the Garda also took images of arrested people “subject to statutory powers” to do so.
“An Garda Síochána does not have a legal authority to use those images, other than for policing purposes, and is required to destroy such images in certain circumstances,” it said.
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