Garda check point figures inflated
The Policing Authority was yesterday contacted by a recently retired garda sergeant who claims there is evidence the volume of breath test checkpoints were inflated in official figures.
It comes a day after it was revealed around 1m breath tests between 2012 and 2016 were falsely recorded, and 14,700 people were incorrectly prosecuted for failing to pay a fixed charge notice when they were never given notice to pay.
This sergeant prepared a report for his district officer before retiring last year in which he pointed out that the official figures for checkpoints completed could be up to twice the number actually performed.
The discrepancy is down to a practice where the returns for completed checkpoints includes those that were scheduled to be done but not completed. In other words, the official figures for checkpoints completed is targets set rather the number actually done.
The retired garda wrote to the Policing Authority chairwoman Josephine Feehily yesterday that, weeks before his retirement, he reported to his district officer that breath testing checkpoint duties “needed to be reviewed as I was concerned that many scheduled checkpoints were not being done for various legitimate reasons but were still recorded on Pulse and used in data return figures although invalidated”.
He went on: “The reply I got dismissed my concerns and criticised me… Garda management had issued instructions to record all checkpoints on Pulse even if not performed and then invalidate the Pulse incident record of unperformed checkpoints.”
As a result, he says, the returns include both performed checkpoints and invalid ones, giving the impression that all the scheduled checkpoints had been completed.
Garda sources have confirmed the invalid checkpoints are recorded in Pulse. It is also the case that regularly scheduled checkpoints are not performed for unforeseen reasons that divert resources to other work.
The retired garda claims that figures of 400,000 checkpoints supplied by the force were purposely presented to give the impression more work was being done than was the case.
“The figures provided were designed to mislead on road safety measures but most importantly protect individual managers from criticism which could affect their career development by non-performance in their relevant districts.”
His intervention comes amid renewed questions about Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan’s authority after Fianna Fáil refused to express confidence in her without a full explanation of the latest scandal.
The Independent Alliance has also reiterated its call for a full outside review of the force, as the opposition claims the garda errors show the force had tried to “cook the books”.
Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald called the garda fiasco “appalling and staggering”. Her department later confirmed it had known about the audit of alcohol testing since June 2016.
“I have made it clear to the Commissioner that the practices that allowed this misreporting to happen within An Garda Síochána over many years need to be fully addressed and the new systems that she has put in place will need to be robust, tested and verified in the time ahead,” she said.
Ms O’Sullivan is expected to make a statement today in a bid to quell mounting concern over her handling of the latest controversies.
She is expected to write to the Policing Authority suggesting that the Garda Inspectorate examine the scandals.
She is also expected to appoint an assistant commissioner to examine the “totality” of the issues raised in the controversies.
