Association of Garda Superintendents annual conference:Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy has urged members of the force to co-operate fully with the new Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission in order to avoid being arrested for questioning during the course of the commission's investigations.
"Nobody should have anything to fear if we are carrying out our duties in an effective and efficient manner and also in a professional manner," he said at the annual conference of the Association of Garda Superintendents in Dublin.
While the commission using its power to arrest Garda members might undermine the public's confidence in An Garda Síochána, external investigators in other jurisdictions appeared to treat sworn police officers fairly, he said.
"You could take it that if guards were being arrested on a regular basis I would have a major concern. I would think 'what are we doing wrong', [ that] we should look at our training and look why this is happening. If they [ serving members] act outside the box and do their own thing, of course there will be arrests and rightly so.
"I would ask the gardaí be up front. If they fix times for appointments or interviews, I want our members of the organisation to turn up on time and make themselves available for whatever interviews are necessary to support and help them in whatever investigations that is ongoing. That's the approach I want to see the organisation taking. It's the right way to go."
The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission will investigate complaints against members of the force from May 9th. It will be staffed by independent investigators and will assume the role of the current Garda Complaints Board, which uses members of the force to investigate complaints made against other members.
Mr Conroy said while members of any organisation would be concerned at the introduction of a reform programme such as that represented by the ombudsman commission, these concerns should dissipate over time.
He was trying to encourage a "shift" in the opinions of members. "Nobody should have any fears; they have a job to do, we have a job to do. If we do the job we are trained to do we'll have no difficulties with the ombudsman."
He also said members must respect the rights of the ombudsman commission to conduct surprise searches at Garda stations as part of its investigations.
He welcomed new legislative provisions which could result in the criminal prosecution of members of the public who made vexatious complaints about members of the force.
"Maybe it may make those who in the past may think that by making a spurious complaint thinking it alleviates their own position, they may have to think again and I think that's a good thing."
The chairman of the ombudsman commission, Mr Justice Kevin Haugh, told delegates that his agency would not be reviewing the database of the complaints board to see what members of the public had a history of making vexatious complaints. However, the commission would begin its own database to which it would regularly refer.
Mr Conroy said he believed accountability within the force would be improved by the ombudsman commission and would make the force more "proficient".
Society had changed and a nation's police force had to keep apace with that change. There were now people in training from China, Poland, Finland, Canada and the UK. As more foreign nationals signed up, this would introduce changes into An Garda Síochána already under way in wider society.