Gardai in need of radical overhaul
Founded in 1922 An Garda Siochana was one of the pillars upon which the Irish Free State was established. As a people just freed from hundreds of years of foreign, often brutal, rule the fact our police force would be unarmed was of major importance. The Garda was to be a keeper of the peace and a servant of the people in the best traditions of democracy. Irelands relatively innocent, predominantly rural and overwhelmingly Catholic society ensured it was free of major crime epidemics for the majority of the last century.
As Ireland began to urbanise and modernise the stress placed on the police has risen exponentially. It would seem that they have not risen to this challenge. The recent Morris Tribunal has exposed a web of police corruption comparable with that in Los Angeles pre Rodney King. The death of Richard Barron in Donegal may have sparked the events that led to the Morris Tribunal but evidence of widespread police incompetence can be garnered from many events of the last few years.
The arrest of Paul Ward for the murder of Veronica Guerin on the basis of a fabricated statement, the brutal assault of demonstrators at the May Day riots and the shooting and killing of two bank robbers at Lusk were all instances where the public had to seriously question the course of action of the Gardai.
Irish culture has always been a culture with a problem speaking out against incompetence for fear of making waves. In the aftermath of the Morris Tribunal the police are under investigation for two crimes of the most serious nature. It would seem that the unearthing of the corruption so apparent in Donegal has emboldened the public at large to speak out against other injustices which otherwise may have gone unreported.
14-year-old Brian Rossiter from Clonmel died on the 10th of September 2002 after spending the night in Garda custody. It was initially claimed the boy had been on a five-day alcohol and ecstasy binge, yet there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in his system upon his death. State pathologist Marie Cassidy had declared the boy had died with head trauma that caused slow bleeding in the brain. He apparently sustained these injuries in a fight he had been involved in two days earlier. The boy’s parents have been sceptical of this reasoning from day one, so much so that an independent pathologist has been brought in from England. If his findings are at odds with Cassidy’s the public’s confidence in the Gardai will be completely shattered. The youth died with priapic erection that could indicate sustained assault to the groin. The worst-case scenario in this situation is horrifying.
Terence Wheelock from Dublin’s North inner city has been in a coma for the past three weeks. He was arrested at 1 pm and had been complaining of little more than a sore arm, at 3 pm he was admitted to the Mater hospital in his current state. The intermittent two hours had been spent in police custody. It is important to acknowledge that the Gardai may have had no involvement in either of these incidents but one does start to wonder how many similar incidents have gone unheralded throughout the years.
Much like the government the Gardai have erected a wall of secrecy and silence around their internal workings. Accountability would seem to be a foreign concept to them. In the course of researching this article I have come across several people who have made complaints about police behaviour. In each case they were barely acknowledged let alone investigated. These people include a Rosbrien man with no previous convictions whose family home was raided under the Misuse of Drugs Act on the basis of hearsay.
As justice Morris advocated, rapid structural overhaul is a necessity. Noel Conroy must be removed as Garda Commissioner and replaced with an independent outsider. Minister for Justice McDowell has advocated the establishment of a 3-person Ombudsman commission but even the proposed chairman of the commission Senator Maurice Hayes claims this is almost useless. Ombudsmen officials would need permission to enter a Garda station and it is very unclear which member of the commission would have veto rights. The reform measures taken in Northern Ireland have transformed the old RUC, one of the worlds most corrupt forces, into the PSNI which while not perfect is a vast improvement on the old model. Such radical measures are needed within the Garda Siochana.
It has not been my intention to label individual Garda as corrupt to the last man. There are many Gardai struggling manfully with an over inflated caseload. The Gardai are forced to deal with some of societies worst members on a daily basis and yet their detection rate involving major crimes is hugely admirable. However, this does not change the fact that as an institution An Garda Siochana is at best outdated and in need of review and at worst immoral and inept.
As Ireland began to urbanise and modernise the stress placed on the police has risen exponentially. It would seem that they have not risen to this challenge. The recent Morris Tribunal has exposed a web of police corruption comparable with that in Los Angeles pre Rodney King. The death of Richard Barron in Donegal may have sparked the events that led to the Morris Tribunal but evidence of widespread police incompetence can be garnered from many events of the last few years.
The arrest of Paul Ward for the murder of Veronica Guerin on the basis of a fabricated statement, the brutal assault of demonstrators at the May Day riots and the shooting and killing of two bank robbers at Lusk were all instances where the public had to seriously question the course of action of the Gardai.
Irish culture has always been a culture with a problem speaking out against incompetence for fear of making waves. In the aftermath of the Morris Tribunal the police are under investigation for two crimes of the most serious nature. It would seem that the unearthing of the corruption so apparent in Donegal has emboldened the public at large to speak out against other injustices which otherwise may have gone unreported.
14-year-old Brian Rossiter from Clonmel died on the 10th of September 2002 after spending the night in Garda custody. It was initially claimed the boy had been on a five-day alcohol and ecstasy binge, yet there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in his system upon his death. State pathologist Marie Cassidy had declared the boy had died with head trauma that caused slow bleeding in the brain. He apparently sustained these injuries in a fight he had been involved in two days earlier. The boy’s parents have been sceptical of this reasoning from day one, so much so that an independent pathologist has been brought in from England. If his findings are at odds with Cassidy’s the public’s confidence in the Gardai will be completely shattered. The youth died with priapic erection that could indicate sustained assault to the groin. The worst-case scenario in this situation is horrifying.
Terence Wheelock from Dublin’s North inner city has been in a coma for the past three weeks. He was arrested at 1 pm and had been complaining of little more than a sore arm, at 3 pm he was admitted to the Mater hospital in his current state. The intermittent two hours had been spent in police custody. It is important to acknowledge that the Gardai may have had no involvement in either of these incidents but one does start to wonder how many similar incidents have gone unheralded throughout the years.
Much like the government the Gardai have erected a wall of secrecy and silence around their internal workings. Accountability would seem to be a foreign concept to them. In the course of researching this article I have come across several people who have made complaints about police behaviour. In each case they were barely acknowledged let alone investigated. These people include a Rosbrien man with no previous convictions whose family home was raided under the Misuse of Drugs Act on the basis of hearsay.
As justice Morris advocated, rapid structural overhaul is a necessity. Noel Conroy must be removed as Garda Commissioner and replaced with an independent outsider. Minister for Justice McDowell has advocated the establishment of a 3-person Ombudsman commission but even the proposed chairman of the commission Senator Maurice Hayes claims this is almost useless. Ombudsmen officials would need permission to enter a Garda station and it is very unclear which member of the commission would have veto rights. The reform measures taken in Northern Ireland have transformed the old RUC, one of the worlds most corrupt forces, into the PSNI which while not perfect is a vast improvement on the old model. Such radical measures are needed within the Garda Siochana.
It has not been my intention to label individual Garda as corrupt to the last man. There are many Gardai struggling manfully with an over inflated caseload. The Gardai are forced to deal with some of societies worst members on a daily basis and yet their detection rate involving major crimes is hugely admirable. However, this does not change the fact that as an institution An Garda Siochana is at best outdated and in need of review and at worst immoral and inept.
posted by wesley maj at 12:06 PM
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