These brutal murders reveal true horrors our gardaí deal with... that’s why we must have reform at highest level

THE pain being felt by the families of murder victims Jastine Valdez and Ana Kriegel is unimaginable to most of us. Only those who have had loved ones murdered can truly appreciate or understand the emotions they must be feeling.

One very good friend of mine was murdered over 20 years ago and I remember well how numbing, upsetting and unbelievable it was at the time, but that grief was only a fraction of the emotions experienced, for an awful lot longer, by her family. Everyone’s sympathies must also be with the families and close friends of the other women who have been killed this year by men.

Horrified

But there are others, too, deserving of our sympathy and support. We have read just how distressing it was for the gardaí who found the bodies of the teenager and young woman whose fates have horrified the nation in recent weeks.

To find them dead, with the evidence of the physical assaults they endured so visible, would be terrible, no matter how much training is provided in advance.

That is a sight nobody should have to see, but once seen will most probably never be forgotten. We can all imagine the terror that both must have felt as their lives were being cruelly, wrongly, taken from them, but how much more vivid that is likely to be for those who found them. And then some of those gardaí were delegated the responsibility of telling the parents of these young women of the horror that had befallen them. It is not something to be envied.

Think too of the gardaí who found Mark Hennessy, the man responsible for the strangling of Ms Valdez. They confronted a man who was i n the process of self-harming and who then attacked one of the force who tried to intervene. Hennessy was shot dead in the process. What happened is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), to establish that proper procedures were followed in this most difficult of situations, but again all of those involved at the scene must surely be traumatised.

It goes without saying that for many gardaí it can be a very difficult job. These men and women provide an essential public service and it can place them in some very dangerous situations.

Some gardaí – 88 at the latest count in the history of the organisation – have died while performing their duties, having put themselves in harm’s way to protect the public.

Think of Adrian Donohoe and Tony Golden and how they died in recent years as they did their jobs on our behalf. Donohoe was murdered by an armed gang of five robbers at a credit union in early 2013 and, unfortunately, his killers have not yet been brought to justice. He was the first garda to be killed in the line of duty since 1996. In 2015 Tony Golden was murdered when he was protecting a domestic abuse victim, and was shot dead by a known republican criminal, Adrian Crevan Mackin, who then killed himself. The lives of those gardaí will not be forgotten by their families, or by their colleagues, but it is far too easy for the public to forget or take for granted what they do.

Threats

Recently, Pat Leahy, the garda in charge of the Dublin division, warned that there are 500 people against whom death threats, of various degrees of seriousness, have been made and whom the gardaí have had to inform. The gardaí are expected to intercept those who would kill where possible, but put themselves in the path of potential harm by doing so.

The thugs who make these threats have little respect for the lives they target – or for those who get in the way. The gardaí have justifiable fears for the safety of their families in some cases.

Our largely unarmed force – with obvious exceptions to deal with instances of serious crime – often have nothing more than stab vests to protect themselves, or pepper stray or batons to confront violent people. Many of our gardaí have been injured over the years or are wary of becoming involved in conflict. Often they succeed in giving evidence against violent people only to see the courts release the convicted back into society, either immediately or in short order.

Recently, the Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan announced a plan for a major recruitment of new gardaí, something to be welcomed by those who believe that the force is not large enough, especially with so many nearing retirement age.

Many will apply for the available places and, if recent years are a guide, the demand will far exceed the number of jobs that will be given, despite many complaints about the pay and conditions that are available to new entrants. That’s the good news, but it is not all good.

Bravery

The new entrants will be joining a force that, despite the bravery and honour of many of those who serve, is riven by poor practice, bad management and inadequate equipment, and which, despite the best efforts at times of great crisis, often does not do the job well enough.

The bravery of individual members and the seriousness of the situations in which they often find themselves are not adequate excuses for consistent failure on the part of the force, particularly in the maintenance of high standards.

Whatever the eventual findings of the ongoing Disclosures Tribunal – and taking into account the bizarre evidence of Superintendent Dave Taylor, once of the Garda Press Office – there were plenty who have given evidence of an attempt to blacken the name of whistleblower Maurice McCabe.

Let’s not forget that the tribunal came originally from McCabe’s attempt to highlight the manipulation of motoring penalty points by senior management to the benefit of those in the know. That is in danger of getting lost.

We shouldn’t forget either that there are plenty of other examples of dysfunction at senior levels of the force, which is why we have an independent commission on the future of policing in Ireland at work at present and which is expected, when it finally reports, to make major recommendations for reform of the force.

There are serious issues in relation to detection rates and subsequent convictions. There are genuine and grounded fears that many types of crime – the complicated, particularly involving financial issues and digital technology – are not adequately policed because the required expertise is not recruited and retained, especially at the pay rates available.

We have too many gardaí shuffling paper in barracks because there is not enough of a civilian structure in place to complete administrative tasks. We don’t have enough gardaí patrolling, either on foot or in cars, to act as an obvious deterrent to crime and to chase down suspects.

But all that merely emphasises that while the gardaí can’t be everywhere – and can’t prevent many bad things happening – that we should hold them responsible to the highest standards… and recognise and praise them when they do things correctly on our behalf.