COMPUTER crime is one its victims do not like to talk about, Mr Brendan Quinn, president of the Association of Garda Superintendents, said last night. It is not unknown for banks and insurance companies to absorb their losses and let the embezzler go "with a golden handshake and a letter of recommendation", the superintendent claimed.
Speaking at the 10th annual delegate conference of the association, Supt Quinn said the Garda should expect an increase in computer-related crime. It is "one of the least frequently prosecuted of all criminal activity and it is estimated that fewer than 15 per cent of all scams come to light."
He told The Irish dimes that some companies, protective of the share price, feel it is bad for business to reveal that one of its officers was an embezzler.
The Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, said she was considering the matter very carefully in the context of a fraud offences Bill which will be submitted to government very shortly.
Supt Quinn told Mrs Owen that the application by various Garda associations for a commission of inquiry into pay "is just and must not be turned down or postponed." The unique status of the Garda has been acknowledged "and this uniqueness can no longer be ignored in such an arbitrary and demoralising manner," he said.
Mrs Owen admitted that the attempt to involve the Garda associations in the central pay negotiations which led to Partnership 2000 "did not prove to be very satisfactory." She said further discussions were needed to try to identify a mechanism for involvement in future national programmes.
Supt Quinn said his association welcomed the advertisement for a new deputy state pathologist to assist Dr John Harbison, who had warned the Department of Justice that he is overwhelmed with work.
"Investigating officers greatly depend on the State Pathologist's expertise to pinpoint the cause band time of death ... while at the same time having to withstand the queries and frequent criticism by the deceased's relations as to why the body cannot be released where the arrival of Dr Harbison is delayed," Supt Quinn said.
He called for an official helicopter or car to be made available to Dr Harbison where necessary, to get him to remote parts of the State.