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ONE OF THE authors of a largely critical report of garda processes and systems says that not taking fingerprints means people wanted for serious crimes could be released from custody.
Mark Toland, deputy chief inspector of the Garda Inspectorate, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that their report had identified 34,000 cases over two years when fingerprints should have been taken but weren’t.
Toland said that most stations have an automated facility whereby gardaí can check fingerprints against a database. By not doing so gardaí risk releasing people wanted for crimes including rape and murder:
A lot of people who’ve been arrested give false details. If you don’t take their fingerprints, when they’ve left the garda station it could be almost impossible to find them again in the future.
“This is not an issue in other policing services from my own experience,” he adds. “The laws in Ireland are slightly different than the UK where fingerprints are taken from every person who’s taken to a garda (police) station. Whereas in Ireland, fingerprints are only taken from people arrested for more serious offences.”
Toland also outlined other fingerprint related deficiencies saying that samples should be taken after someone is charged if they weren’t recorded at the time of arrest.
Poor fingerprint recovery at crime scenes is also a key concern outlined in the report with no data available on the quality of crime scene examinations.
Speaking to Today with Seán O’Rourke this morning, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said that she has asked acting Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan for an immediate report on the fingerprinting issue.
On the report in general she said it was “a serious concern” and described it as a “line in the sand moment” that highlights “a huge need for systemic change”.
The report identifies the absence of up-to-date dispatch technology as well as deficiencies in practices, supervision and governance relating to the recording, classification and investigation of crime.
“We have found calls have not been recorded,” said Toland earlier . “A member of the public who has dialled 999 for some reason to report a crime, their call has not been recorded for some reason and that’s a very serious issue.”
He adds that not recording crimes correctly means that proper crime prevention becomes even more challenging.
“If you don’t record a burglary or race crime you won’t know you had a problem, you wont assign resources to deal with that issue and you make poor deployment choices,” he said.
Despite this, the report has declined to say that gardaí have been “massaging” figures because Toland says it’s impossible to say what an individual garda’s motivations were for not recording a crime report correctly:
In terms of massaging figures, we have’t used that (term) because we don’t know what’s in the mind of individuals. But what we found were poor decisions, inaccurate decisions, incorrect decisions and it compromises the integrity of the Pulse system.
- additional reporting from Hugh O’Connell
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The amount of hedgehogs and their babies dying because the council are strimming hedgerows is shocking.
Follow The Hedgehog Society. It’s illegal to do it this time of year but sure they do what they want with not a thought for wildlife.
@Deirdre McDonnell: it’s not illegal for them. It’s usually done under the guise of ‘road safety’. However, it is bad management on their behalf. Most of it is not required.
@Deirdre McDonnell: It’s hilarious that we’re now looking to ‘protect’ tiny runs of boundary growth when there’s 1000′s of hectors of ‘potential behind them.
Hopefully people can start treating this lovely island with more respect.
We could start with banning the unnecessary trimming of beautiful grasses and wild flower along our parks and roads. They even do it along the canals now, where there is zero traffic. It results in an ugly mess of dead grass, with not a flower in sight.
My local council doesn’t do that, we have plenty of wildflowers and butterflies and bees. Surprised that they’re so shortsighted. But they’re probably afraid that a homeless person might catch a few hours of sleep there.
Surely noteworthy has it wrong, Ireland is a heaven for flora and fauna…I’d never believe we could be that bad at protecting of wildlife, like its not like we have bait diggers tearing up our SPA SAC mudflats where wading birds get their much needed rest and food, or our dog walkers letting pooches and fluffy off their lead where ground nesting birds breed and raise their vulnerable young….or I fully sure farmer Brown is letting that blacket bog that he raped and pillaged over the last century is letting it replenish…no you must be wrong noteworthy if you think our fine government’s would let this happen..
We could start by holding the OPW to account for REPEATEDLY breaching EU environmental law and burying rivers in concrete and dredging up salmonid waterways all over the country.
Arrogant Pr1cks.
Ah yes, the randomly appointed nature 2000 areas, very popular due the subsidies involved. As per the latest info not always compatible with the climate goals of the EU. Also so random that on side of a land border -Netherlands- everything is done to preserve an area even leading to farms having to close (buy out by government) due to high nitrogen emissions, while on the other side of that border the same land is dug up/ploughed to turn it into very good farm land, with associated farms…
@Lars: yeah man, it’s all a conspiracy.
@Aranthos Faroth: it’s not a conspiracy and conservering nature is very important. Unfortunately the EU once again managed to turn it into a bureaucratic subsidy driven program that doesn’t seem to get the best results for the money invested. The program itself is quite outdated (pre 2000) and should reviewed…
Absolutely not, I’ll be watching the guy that will be watching his washing machine going around, that’s a fantastic watch..
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