This article is from page 3 of the 2007-08-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
COMPLAINTS against members of the Gardai serving in the Clare juris- diction have increased by almost 42 per cent. A total of 44 incidents of complaints were made to the Garda Siochana Complaints Board about gardai serving in the Clare area in 2006. The previous year, 31 com- plaints were made, 13 less.
An increase in the number of com- plaints nationally was also recorded in the Garda Siochana Complaints Board Annual Report 2006, pub-
lished this week.
The number of complaints nation- ally increased by more than 15 per cent between 2005 and 2006. In 2005, the board received 1,173 incidents of complaints compared to 1,350 last year. The report also showed that of the decisions taken in 2006, a total of 814 complaints were deemed admis- sible, an increase from 650 in 2005.
The Garda Press Officer said that the Commissioner, Noel Conroy, was disappointed with this increase and did not condone discourteous_ be- haviour, abuse of authority or, in any
way, the misuse of powers by mem- bers of An Garda Siochana.
“While the level of complaints are a cause of concern to the com- missioner, this statistic must be put in context. In 2006, members of An Garda Siochana had in excess of one million interactions with members of the public, with less than 0.1 per cent resulting in admissible complaints.
“This compares to approximately 700,000 interactions in 2005, which resulted in approximately the same percentage,” the press officer said.
‘The Garda Commissioner and his
management team, along with all members of An Garda Siochana, are committed to improving the stand- ards adopted by our organisation. There is nobody with a greater vest- ed interest in dealing with wrongdo- ers in An Garda Siochana than the Garda Siochana itself.”
The Garda Siochana Annual Report for 2006, which is separate from the Garda Siochana Complaints Board process, said that seven members of the gardai were dismissed by the commissioner as a result of internal disciplinary investigations and a fur-
ther 94 members were the subject of a disciplinary sanction.
In his introduction to the 2006 re- port, Dr Gordon Holmes, chairman of the board, said that, year after year, the report highlighted the shortcom- ings of the legislation under which the Garda Siochana Complaints Board operated.
“At last some notice has been taken of it and the Garda Siochana Ombuds- man Commission is now a reality. In the first half of the coming year, the Ombudsman Commission will take over the duties of the board,” he said.