Complaints chairman says gardaí closing ranks over misconduct claims

GARDAÍ WERE "closing ranks" and protecting each other when colleagues were accused of misconduct, the chairman of the Garda Complaints Board has said.

Dr Gordon Holmes was speaking as the final annual report of the board was published yesterday. The board, which ceased taking new complaints in May last year as the new Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission came into being, had 545 outstanding complaints before it last year.

It transferred 72 complaints where investigations had not yet started to the new commission and continued processing 473 already under investigation. By the end of last year there were 79 requiring attention and 12 remain at the time of the report's publication.

Complaints from the public against gardaí concerned abuse of authority, neglect of duty or discourteous Garda conduct.

In the five months to May 8th last year, the board received 486 new complaints, an 11 per cent increase on the same period in 2006, when 438 were received. The highest proportion (227 or 47 per cent) were received in the Dublin metropolitan area.

Some 248 complaints were withdrawn last year and 293 were deemed admissible.

"The largest category of complaint relates to allegations of abuse of authority, the number of complaints of this nature rising by two percentage points when compared with 2006 (34 per cent to 36 per cent)," says the report.

Cases regarding neglect of duty also increased from 25 per cent of total complaints to 28 per cent, while cases alleging discreditable conduct fell from 6 per cent to three per cent.

In 387 cases adjudicated on last year, it was decided no offence or breach had happened. Some 47 were referred to the Garda Commissioner when the case was minor. Some 34 were found to be serious and were referred to the complaints tribunal.

The tribunal is a three-person body appointed by the board to inquire into allegations of serious breaches of discipline by members of the Garda Síochána.

There were 24 tribunal sittings last year, dealing with 25 cases involving 48 members of the force and 110 cases of alleged misconduct. In 12 cases, 17 members were found to have breached discipline. Penalties included caution, reprimand and reduction in pay. In just one case a member was dismissed, and this is being appealed.

So far this year 67 cases have been considered by the board and no breach was found in 40 of these. Fourteen were referred to the commissioner and two to the complaints tribunal.

Dr Holmes said it was often a complainant's word against a garda's and in such cases, it was difficult to prove a case.

"You have to get proof of these things and it's very, very difficult. You get cases where you can't tell who's telling the truth. You get a garda saying 'I wasn't discourteous' and the member of the public saying he or she was. We can't decide in that and we generally find no breach [of discipline]."