The senior garda at the centre of the row over crime detection rates in Waterford insisted yesterday that there was nothing improper about the way in which crime statistics for the area were recorded.
Supt Michael McGarry said he was "very annoyed" at the allegations and welcomed the investigation into them, which he hoped would be expedited.
"Everything in Waterford is above board," he told The Irish Times. "We have a very good, hard-working force here, and it's very distressing for any allegation to be made affecting the reputation of that force."
Supt McGarry said he did not wish to comment on the specific memos which had given rise to the current controversy, as these were now the subject of an internal Garda investigation.
The internal memos suggest that gardaí in Waterford decided last month to record a spate of burglaries as having been solved although they did not have enough evidence to bring the suspects to court.
Supt McGarry said anybody could make allegations, but he could stand over the way crimes were recorded by himself and his officers. "We're above board in every matter. I am quite satisfied about that."
Supt McGarry was supported last night by the head of the Garda's Waterford division, Chief Supt Seán O'Halloran. He also welcomed the investigation and said he was "delighted" that the results were to be made public. "I don't have anything to hide in relation to crime reporting or detection levels in this area."
Waterford, he said, had the highest crime detection rates in the State in the four consecutive years up to 2000 and it expected to repeat that when figures for 2001 were published. "If people feel that has been achieved by massaging the figures, they are in for a disappointment, because it is not the case."
The allegations were "immensely damaging" to the force locally, but he was confident that the investigation would show there was no wrongdoing by any of his officers.
There was a perception, he said, that there had to be a conviction before a crime could be recorded as detected, but that was not the case. In the juvenile liaison scheme, for example, convictions were not sought in cases where crimes had been solved. Also, the Director of Public Prosecutions might not proceed with a case although the investigating gardaí might regard it as solved. There were also cases in which the suspect died before a case came to court.
There were internal Garda guidelines relating to what should and should not be regarded as a detected crime. He could not comment on whether those guidelines had been observed in the case at the centre of the current row, as this was the subject of the investigation being carried out by Supt Seán Feeley, of the Naas division. He was "quite satisfied", however, that it would be established that there was "no wrongdoing".
Chief Supt O'Halloran agreed that the memos which had given rise to the current row must have been leaked by a member of the Garda. "That has to be the case," he said. The objective could only have been to damage the reputation of members of the force, he added.