Just over half of the 2,706 complaints lodged against gardaí with Fiosrú, the office of the police ombudsman, were found to be admissible, reports RTE.
Almost a third (27%) concerned dissatisfaction with the quality or pace of garda investigations, while 15% were linked to roads policing and approximately 305 related to issues arising during arrests, reports RTE.
Fiosrú launched 30 investigations following mandatory garda referrals of serious incidents where the conduct or omission of a garda may have caused death or serious harm to a person.
Thirteen of those referrals related to fatalities, though Fiosrú stressed that a referral does not in itself imply any wrongdoing by gardaí. Six referrals concerned allegations of sexual assault or an abuse of power by a member, reports RTE.
Fiosrú also forwarded 61 investigation files to the Director of Public Prosecutions on the basis that a garda had, or may have, committed a criminal offence.
However, the DPP directed a prosecution in only 15 of those cases — fewer than one in four, reports RTE.
The figures are published in Fiosrú’s annual report, which covers the final nine months of last year.
Fiosrú also outlined changes to its internal structures and procedures aimed at making its investigations more efficient, reports RTE.
This comes a week after a victim who endured sustained harassment and abuse at the hands of serial abuser and former garda Paul Moody said her complaint to Fiosrú was met with complete silence.
Ombudsman Emily Logan said the organisation has established a dedicated Specialist Services Unit to handle complaints involving domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, reports RTE.
It is one of three new units introduced, alongside a rapid response unit to accelerate criminal investigations and a Digital Investigations Unit to recover and examine evidence from mobile phones, CCTV footage and body-worn cameras.
Of the 2,706 complaints received, almost half (47%) were deemed inadmissible. Of the remainder, 27% concerned the standard or timeliness of garda investigations, 15% related to roads policing, 12% were about arrests, 11% concerned how a garda handled a call, and 10% involved community policing. Sixty-five complaints related to garda involvement in a domestic incident, while 41 touched on mental health matters, reports RTE.
Half of all admissible complaints — 717 in total — were referred back to An Garda Síochána for internal resolution, covering matters such as discourtesy, service-level issues and performance concerns.
Ms Logan said this gave her cause to be “optimistic that the proportionate handling of less serious complaints will ensure the swiftest and most appropriate outcomes,” reports RTE.
Of the remaining 723 complaints forwarded for Fiosrú investigation, the most common category was abuse of authority (32%), followed by alleged criminal offences (24%) and neglect of duty (21%).
The highest volume of complaints originated in Dublin (1,098), followed by Carlow/Kildare (141), Wexford/Wicklow (133), and Meath/Westmeath (117), reports RTE.
No sanctions over failure to investigate Moody
Fiosrú confirmed that no individual has been disciplined or sanctioned for the failure to investigate serial abuser and former garda Paul Moody.
Ms Logan said more than one person had been involved in handling the victim’s complaint and that those individuals had since left the organisation, reports RTE.
She added that Fiosrú’s systems have since undergone significant changes and that new specialist investigation units had been put in place, including one focused specifically on domestic, gender and sexual violence.
Paul Moody’s first victim said her complaint to the ombudsman was received in silence and went unaddressed for five years. She also stated that had Fiosrú acted, Moody’s second victim, Nicola Hanney, might have been spared, reports RTE.
Ms Logan said there was no single individual whose actions in that case warranted disciplinary proceedings.
She added that she was not satisfied the victim had been made to feel heard, and said she took personal responsibility for that, reports RTE.
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