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AN GARDA SÍOCHÁNA dramatically miscounted the number of breath tests carried out by gardaí over the past five years, overestimating the actual figure by almost one million.
At a press conference today, gardaí said that they had discovered a “significant discrepancy” in the number of breath tests that gardaí actually carried out between October 2011 and December 2016.
The Pulse system says that 1,996,365 breath tests were carried out across Ireland during the five year period. However the Medical Bureau of Road Safety Data found the figure was actually 1,058,157.
A review of breath test data in the southern region in 2015 revealed discrepancies in garda data and a full review was then launched last year.
When a garda takes a breath test, they record the information on a paper form and then input this data into the Pulse system. The 2016 review identified significant gaps in the manually recorded breath test data.
Using data provided by the MCRS, it was confirmed that there was a deficit between the Pulse information and the number of breath tests recorded on the devices.
New recording system
Asked whether gardaí had been making up figures, Assistant Commissioner Michael Finn said: “I don’t know. Certainly they weren’t recording them correctly”.
He said there was no one single reason that may account for this discrepancy.
In November last year, a new specific data recording IT upgrade was installed on the Pulse system which required officers to record the serial number of the device used plus the meter reading before and after the checkpoint was concluded – something they did not have to do before this.
The data since then is accurate, according to Finn, who said it had also been compared to MBRS data. However, gardaí are now taking down the breath test data that is currently published on their website.
‘Deep cultural problems’
In a statement, the Policing Authority said that while it is encouraging that information is being put in the public domain, the authority is “alarmed at the scale of the discrepancies”.
This is not just an academic statistical matter, it is an ethical one. It raises serious questions of integrity for the Garda Síochána organisation and combined with previous issues regarding inflated activity levels, erodes confidence in the credibility of Garda data generally.
The authority said it raises widespread concern about the way gardaí go about their daily work and about management and supervision. The scale of the discrepancy is “further evidence of deep cultural problems” within the service, it added.
“I can’t just blame rank and file gardaí, we all have a responsibility to share here,” Finn told reporters.
A fact-finding investigation has been established, led by Superintendent Pat Murray who is based in Athlone. However, Finn said gardaí only began keeping paper-based records with device details and information about who conducted a checkpoint last year.
The investigation is an internal one, and the results may not be made public.
- Reporting by Michelle Hennessy
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Probably just a “copy & paste” clerical error………….
@B McQ:
No doubt FF and FG will have a credible explanation ready to protect their ideological enforcers in blue.
@Benjy Mooney: Been caught again have you ?
@CeannairBlue: No but the Gardai clearly have.
@B McQ: Witty. Well, half anyway.
@Benjy Mooney: I bet that sounded funny in your head. Shame original thought isn’t in the remit of the AAA morons.
@CeannairBlue: The correct name is Solidarity. Try and keep up like a good mouthpiece.
@Benjy Mooney:
You are falling behind. The name is ‘No Solidarity’
@Nick Allen:
Most definitely no solidarity with corrupt and politically directed senior Gardai.
Say whaa!? Come on guys? Where’s the competency? And we rely on you for order, security and safety?
The harsh reality is that FF and FG will support the Gardai no matter what abominations they’re responsible for. All police forces including our own are a political tool of the ruling class. So in a capitalist nation they are routinely deployed as a mechanism to control and suppress the majority working class as seen recently in their attempts to crush the water charges campaign. For example, Commissioner O’Sullivan’s husband led the surveillance operation ( called Mizen) to spy on the water charges campaign activists.
This is why FF and FG, the primary Irish parties of capitalism are so reluctant to take their enforcers to task in the face of irrefutable evidence of corruption at the top. And it’s why the government folded to the Gardai pay demands last year. The Irish state desperately needs the Gardai onside for the many battles to come as the working class struggles against its exploitation.
@Benjy Mooney: Where can we all buy some of what you’re smoking?
@Ciaran Whyte: Most probably from the Guards.
Yes IT problems. The system couldn’t stop the users scamming it.
No sign of the Gardai investigating this systematic fraud across the banking sector:
http://www.thejournal.ie/tracker-mortgage-report-3302237-Mar2017/
while they smear whistleblowers as pedophiles and invent imaginary breath tests.
@Benjy Mooney: Where’s the money in that?
I’d hazard a wild guess here that many negative tests simply weren’t entered into the system during shift changes. That one figure is from pulse and the other figure is from something like the amount of disposable mouth pieces used. It’ll probably be a non story when they look into it, just a stock control issue, where gardai used the stock numbers for productivity claims.
Obviously the Gardaí have a target to hit every week , regarding the number of motorists they check. So they might only check 3 people on the road but record 6 in pulse.
@DMurph: Not only that they got caught out by a very clever journalist who put in a FOI request into how many of the disposable plastic tips that they attach to the breathalyzer were purchased by AGS. The number they bought did not reconcile with the amount of breath tests they claimed to have done. They got caught rotten scamming the system, plain and simple.
Would this involve a loss to the public purse? If thats the case then its a matter for the PAC to investigate possible corruption.
That’s nice – blame the IT person. What’s their name again? Oh yeah, Patsy.
Root and branch restructuring needed in the force . Bit of a laughing stock. Pulse is a joke, Sher ya can stick anything into or pull anything ya fancy out of the damn thing
Guards are a laughing stock at this stage. Feeding the newspapers with absolute horseshite..
Don’t think there is any political will to take on the Gardai and reform it……Government gave in to their pay demand and commissioner is still there….Individual Gardai do a good job but present minister motto is never make a decision that upsets anyone….
Seems to be the order of the day blaming I.T., next they’ll be blaming the Russians given how they like to engage in their game of undermining the intelligence of the average Joe…..
The guards are a law onto themselves, no accountability or responsibility, rife with incompetency and corruption and the , `Disclosures Tribunal` , has not even begun it`s public sessions yet,
@Patrick James Walsh: And of course this makes it abundantly clear to the GOOD Gardai that they can’t stand up for justice, because they – and likely their family – will be targeted if they do.
It’s less police and more mafia.
Completely unrelated but does anyone wanna buy 1million breathalysers?
When I first moved here over a decade ago I told my kids that they could trust the Guardai, now I have to tell them to avoid them at all costs.
Such a sad state of affairs.
1 million over 5 years is approx 550 per day spread over 560 stations is less than
One a day per station….within a margin of error I’d say….
@Liam kelly: one per station per day doesn’t sound like much, but remember that’s the average amount of tests being carried out too!
@Paddy Cullen: so cold be less :-)
@Liam kelly: could… damn predictive text
@Liam kelly: until you factor in the real number, indicating that (using your own logic) every station only carried out 1 per day.
@John Strahan: maybe u misunderstood. 1000000 tests overstated in 5 years is an average of less than 1 test overstated per station per day.
@Liam kelly: not at all. 1000000 tests carried out means an average of 1 test per station, per day. Meaning they overstated by 100%
@Liam kelly: Every station. Every day.
Hard to imagine this sort of fiddling was ONLY about numbers. If I had been busted I’d be thinking about calling a solicitor. God knows what sort of monkeying has been done. The whole system is now utterly undermined.
When will someone finally come in and clean house properly? Why can’t Ireland have a properly functioning police force instead of the white van man of policing?
Probably on overtime when they recorded that extra million.
300 Garda reserves required
Must be able to count
Perhaps the missing million were the kind of people who had their penalty points wiped so the tests just got lost while those of the ordinary mug were processed.
They use single use disposable mouth pieces for a road side breath test. How many of them were ordered? Would that not be a reliable figure to use? Unless they just throw them over the ditch of course.
Maybe the gardai needed to show extra breathalyser tests to show improved productivity that they needed to unlock more pay …
What about this article in the Irish Times ; published in February last;
Separately, The Irish Times is aware of alleged incidents where it has been claimed a garda breathtested themselves before uploading the results to Pulse as allegedly the outcome of a MAT checkpoint.
In one such case a witness told this newspaper they observed a garda breathtest themselves multiple times in a Garda station before uploading that information on to Pulse as the supposed outcome of a checkpoint, with “no detections” recorded.
See full article below;
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/garda-breath-test-figures-fail-to-add-up-1.2981392
Your off the case o Sullivan
In a Word Gombeens!
‘I can’t just blame the rank and file gardai’… That’s a departure from the norm…
Police in Queensland were caught in 2007 faking all breathtests – see further article below;
The Gardai are not required to take names or reg. no’s here so this is easily done also no GPS is recorded either. So faking breath tests is very easy.
Internal enquiry my arse and I’m sure whoever is doing the enquiry like the the ones who recorded all these imaginary tests will be well paid in overtime.
Why does joe public like nothing better than engrossing themselves in every little thing the guards are involved in? If any large organisation was scrutinised the way the guards are I’m sure it would show up some discrepancies… let the guards get on with their job. This country won’t be happy until every guard is afraid to fill out a ticket… and then what will happen??? … ‘guards are doing nothing!’
Irish Times article from February 2017
“Separately, The Irish Times is aware of alleged incidents where it has been claimed a garda breathtested themselves before uploading the results to Pulse as allegedly the outcome of a MAT checkpoint.
In one such case a witness told this newspaper they observed a garda breathtest themselves multiple times in a Garda station before uploading that information on to Pulse as the supposed outcome of a checkpoint, with “no detections” recorded.”
Full article here;
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/garda-breath-test-figures-fail-to-add-up-1.2981392
The IT guys have a lot to answer for? or maybe Procurement are to blame?
Selfies?
They juked the stats.
Well that’s a surprise lol
And the commissioner is still in situ.
Astonishing and yet there have been those who berated anyone who dared question the absurd figures banded about in relation to actual checkpoints, Drink testing stats and the complete BS spouted out by our friends at the RSA.
One more point – They Alcometer they use – does not record time or date – it simply records Negative or Positive. So anyone can breathalyse themselves 20 times and say the stopped 20 people and got all negative returns. It’s that simple. As for supervising Gardai – alot of the checkpoints are done by Gardai on their own. The system needs to change urgently. Some checkpoints in the Country only last 10 minutes which is useless and pointless. Even with the most modern technology – a Garda on their own at the right location with date, time and GPS recorded can still fool the system by breathalysing himself and getting all negatives, as long as no on is watching.
Where are all the loyal commentators who argued vehemently that the Garda were a special case when they exceeded the pay limits and cost us 50 million euro a year on top of their handsome pay and pension after threateneing to go on strike?
Not a dickybird from the commissioner, another shambles on her watch, I’m embarrassed for the few genuine cops !
Sounds like a lot of tests to me.
I would think that there is some bonus available that maybe used to be paid automatically bit now needs some data recorded to say you have done so many tasks per month/year and some bright spark figured out putting in a few false speed checks and breath tests hit the mark. And then it went nationwide.
have your say