Few prosecutions from complaints against gardai

Only seven of 143 complaints referred to the DPP by the Garda Síochána Complaints Board last year resulted in prosecutions.

Six of those cases related to the May Day Reclaim the Streets disturbance where video evidence was available.Of 1,405 complaints made against gardaí in 2002, just 17 officers were found to have breached discipline. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties said it was "beyond credibility" to suggest such a small number of gardaí were deserving of admonishment during the course of the year.

Complaints against gardaí in 2002 were at the highest level to date, up 10 per cent on the previous year.

There were 45 admissible complaints relating to the Reclaim the Streets incident. Overall, the number of complaints has doubled since 1990, when 746 were received.

Some 689 of last year's complaints were processed to a conclusion during the year. Of these, 31 were informally resolved at local level. A further 15 were judged to involve a minor breach of discipline and were referred to the Garda Commissioner.

Of those, six cases resulted in admonition or a warning being handed down.

There was no decision as of December 31st, 2002, in respect of six cases and the commissioner was taking advice on a further three.

Sixteen cases were held by the board to be of a more serious nature and were referred to a Garda tribunal. Of those, just two resulted in the gardaí involved receiving come form of sanction. Seven of the complaints were not pursued because of time delays or because the officers involved had retired.

In two other cases, the complaints were withdrawn, one complaint was closed and another resulted in the garda involved being cleared of any wrongdoing.

Following an investigation into a complaint, the board can refer the matter to the Garda Commissioner if it considers that a minor breach of discipline may be involved. Cases are referred to a tribunal where it is felt a serious breach of discipline may have occurred.

More than half, 750, of the complaints received were lodged in the six Dublin metropolitan divisions. The fewest number of complaints, 11, were lodged in the Roscommon/Galway east division.

The board noted that the figures for Dublin might be artificially high because some people who lived in other divisions travelled to Dublin to make their complaint in person at the board's offices in the city.

It also said the value of video footage in investigations had been clearly demonstrated by the May Day footage.

The Garda Complaints Board also said that while some progress had been made on the availability to gardaí of video equipment, it believed urgent steps should be taken to provide CCTV facilities for the reception and cell areas of Garda stations.

Such facilities would afford protection to both members of the public and gardaí and would greatly assist the board in its work.