‘Gardaí failing to take breath tests at every fatal road crash’
THE Policing Authority has expressed concern that gardaí are not performing breath tests at all serious road crashes – even fatal ones.
More than 40% of all drivers in serious collisions are not breathalysed and more than one fifth of drivers are not breathalysed after fatal crashes.
‘There is a failure to conduct testing at serious and fatal road collisions in a significant proportion of cases, with 42% of drivers not being tested in serious injury collisions and 22% of drivers not being tested in fatal collisions in the period from 2004 to 2016,’ the authority found.
‘An ongoing and significant concern for the authority is that breath tests must be performed at serious and fatal traffic collisions.
‘This is not being completed in all cases where, for example, a driver is hospitalised,’ it said and called the situation ‘urgent’.
In two major reports published yesterday, the authority said crime detection rates have fallen for the second year in a row, despite ‘considerable policing success in disrupting organised crime’.
In its fifth report on the Implementation of Changing Policing in Ireland programme, the authority said its concern at the pace of progress is now secondary to its concern about ‘significant’ flaws.
In a strongly-worded report, it said that if An Garda Síochána does not pause to reconsider the way its efforts are being directed, then it will not deliver the fundamental reform required.
The authority said despite increases in resources in roads policing, there is a reduced level of detections of life-saver offences [like drink-driving] compared to 2017.
‘The action plan to address the recommendations of the Crowe Horwath review [of falsified breath test numbers] has not been produced and key issues remain,’ it said.
The reports also note that there has been no formal Garda response to the Crowe Horwath Report in relation to breath testing thus far.
It also highlighted what it called the lack of a clear vision for the future of the organisation.
Effective Garda service is being consistently undermined in the absence of clear strategies, it said.
The authority said there was some evidence to suggest that the proportion of inexperienced ‘probationer’ gardaí in some areas may cause a risk.
It noted that up to 800 gardaí are sworn in a year without the ability to operate Garda vehicles, as it is not included in their basic training.
The authority said out of 26 sworn members in one Garda unit the authority visited, only one had sufficient training to drive in emergency situations, and a further two had the very basic level training which would allow them to drive a service vehicle.
It said that driving is a core skill for a garda and it has an impact on policing.
The authority said that once training has been completed, there are substantial limitations on where probationers can then be placed as there are not enough sergeants to supervise them.
This, it said, exacerbates the delay in sending new gardaí to the stations where they are needed most.
The authority also said the scale of the impact of constraints is ‘more severe, and more urgent’, than originally anticipated.
The report notes that a new Garda building planned for Military Road to replace the Harcourt Square headquarters will not accommodate all the staff, leaving two national units without a base.
Because of a funding cap, the Military Road development will be one storey lower than originally planned.
When this cap was put in place there were fewer staff in Harcourt Square, but since that time it states, ‘Harcourt Square itself has been squeezed to maximum capacity’.
The report warns the move from Harcourt Square cannot be delayed as the lease on the building will trigger multi-million euro penalty clauses if there is a delay.
Crime detection rate has fallen New Garda HQ not big enough