Madam, – Michael O’Boyce of the Garda Representative Association (January 22nd) says gardaí will risk injury, being reluctant to use their batons, rather than face an investigation by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) because of the “inordinate delays” in the process.
It is true that the GSOC has been dealing with a backlog in admitting complaints (which backlog is now all but eliminated). But where any serious injury may have occurred as a result of the conduct of a garda, the GSOC operates a 24/7 response system. There is not – and never has been – any delay in the deployment of officers when this happens, whether as a result of a baton-strike or otherwise.
Once such an investigation is opened, it will proceed on the same basis and at the same pace as any police investigation.
Mr O’Boyce goes on to set out his association’s position that “all complaints made to the [Garda] Ombudsman must be investigated by the [Garda] Ombudsman”. This stance runs counter to worldwide practice in policing oversight.
In England and Wales, for example, the Independent Police Complaints Commission returns 98 per cent of all complaints to the local force for investigation. In Scotland, the Police Complaints Commission will consider only cases that have already been investigated by the police themselves.
This is not merely an issue of resources. The objective is to ensure that police organisations do not relinquish front-line responsibility for ensuring their own discipline and behaviour. This was the failure, in the first instance, that facilitated the Donegal scandals.
In its first 18 months, the GSOC has taken 9,000 queries and almost 5,000 complaints. It has responded to 400 “call-ins” from the Garda. It has opened more than 1,000 criminal investigations. It is investigating or has investigated more than 20 deaths. It is running three inquiries “in the public interest”. But 48 investigators and a handful of case officers cannot deal directly with every report of pushing and shoving and every allegation of discourtesy across an organisation of 14,500 men and women, dispersed throughout more than 700 stations, across the State.
What the GSOC has asked of the Government is that it should have the discretion to return to the Garda Síochána for investigation some relatively minor allegations relating to incidents which, if proven, would be technically criminal but which, in reality, are often matters of local supervision and discipline.
It is important to state that it is the firm policy of the GSOC that allegations of serious misbehaviour by gardaí will always be investigated independently by its own designated officers. It is also important to note that where the GSOC requests an investigation to be undertaken by the Garda Síochána, it may supervise that investigation.
Where, in less serious cases, it chooses not to supervise, there exists for members of the public the right to a review of the investigation by the GSOC. These safeguards ensure that the entire process of police oversight can be subject to independent audit. – Yours, etc,