Suspended garda’s mental health ‘brought to brink’ over fears he’ll be charged
Former union chief lashes ‘witch-hunt’ against officer who claims he was asked to ‘square away’ traffic tickets by colleagues
A GARDA suspended for the past two-and-a-half years in an investigation into alleged ‘corrupt’ squaring away of traffic tickets has broken his silence in a bid ‘to clear my name’.
Sources said the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI), which is leading the investigation, has recently forwarded files to the Director of Public Prosecutions on the garda and four of his colleagues, who were also suspended in 2020.
Garda HQ did not respond to queries on the status of the investigation.
The suspended officer, speaking for the first time and on condition of anonymity, said his mental health has been brought to the brink over fears he may potentially face charges in connection with the investigation.
He claimed he was frequently asked by colleagues of all ranks, including some superior officers, to square away tickets – a practice referred to as ‘squares’ or ‘L7s’.
‘That’s right. You’d get cryptic phone calls asking you to come into their office, and then you’d be in the office and they would put it to you they were looking for a square for a friend. You can say no. They ask you nicely but they don’t forget,’ he said.
He recalled an occasion when he stopped a man who was speeding in a car, and ‘within minutes’ a detective he did not know phoned him requesting a square on behalf of the driver and ‘I just said no, I can’t, and he didn’t take it too well and he said “are you f***ing serious” and I said “yes” and I was told “for f*** sake, what’s wrong with you?”.
‘So, I said “I’m sorry, I must end the phone-call, I’m still working”, and so he abused me some more on the phone.
‘That’s what you kind of had to work under’.
He described being placed on suspension as ‘absolutely shocking’ and ‘surreal’ and is adamant he never used his Garda discretion for any type of personal gain.
The officer, who has not been arrested and has not been charged with any offences, became emotional several times when interviewed at his home.
He said the situation has had a major psychological and financial impact on him and his family.
Recalling the day of his suspension, he said: ‘I was inside in the office and an inspector came in and asked me if I heard the news. I said no, and he said “you’re suspended as of now. This has gone very serious”.
‘My inspector then told me: “I’ve to serve papers on you. hand over your badge and your phone.”’
Fighting back tears, the garda said: ‘I just went home. I don’t know how I drove home.’
He said the past two-and-a-half years have been ‘very dark’, especially the Christmas of 2020.
‘It was crazy leading up to our first Christmas. It was terrible in the house. I hid away for months.
It was shocking.
‘Paranoia was just gone through the roof. I was stressed out of my mind. I couldn’t sleep. I had nightmares. I was going to my GP to get medication to sleep but those drugs just make you like a zombie during the day... That went on for about six months.’
He maintains he has always worked honestly within the parameters of the job, which he says included the use of discretion – part of the force’s core policing principles.
‘I couldn’t believe that I had got in bother in the job because I didn’t bother anyone and I had kept my head down and got on with most people’ he said.
He admits to being ‘bitter’, claiming he and his colleagues have been ‘singled out’.
The GNBCI has said its investigation is into ‘corruption in office’ allegations. However, the use of the term ‘corruption’ has left a sour taste in the mouths of many Garda Síochána members.
Frank Thornton, a former president of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and now treasurer of the Garda union, criticised the Dublin-based investigation unit for what he claimed was a ‘witch-hunt’.
He said: ‘It’s going on over two years at an absolute snail’s pace, and these suspended members remain out in the wilderness.’
Mr Thornton said there has been ‘a lack of leadership from the very top – not locally, but from the very top nationally’.
He said: ‘We sought clarity on discretion, sought clarity on “squaring”. All we got was a mixed-up message regarding discretion. It’s not definitive.
‘We want definitive direction and leadership – can you or can you not square a ticket?
‘When you move off from that, then the Commissioner is quoting “preference”. So what is preference? Define preference.
‘You can say no but they don’t forget’ ‘We want direction and leadership’
Tell us what preference is.
‘Can they give an old lady a chance if she is driving out of a supermarket with no seatbelt on? Is that preference because she is elderly?’ he asked.
The suspended garda says he suspects that he and some of his colleagues have been unfairly caught in the net of a wider investigation cast by the GNBCI into more serious allegations of corruption, which he says have nothing to do with him.
He says he has been ‘tainted’ after being on suspension for twoand-a-half years.
‘There will always be a cloud over us’ the garda said. ‘To clear my name is the number one priority for me.’
He says he remains in limbo as he awaits the DPP’s decision: ‘I was informed that I will get a phone call on my mobile phone from that investigation unit and they are either going to say “you’re okay” or “we are going to charge you”’.
He admits he is ‘anxious waiting for that phone call’.
He has had counselling but said: ‘I am not going to get any relief from this while I am living it. The only relief you can get from counselling is to deal with the aftermath, so I am sparing sessions, hopefully in the aftermath, to try and get the anger out of me, and to get the hurt out’.
In a previous response to a query about Garda discretion, a spokesman said the force ‘enjoys a strong relationship with communities based on our long-held and understood tradition of policing by consent, and discretion is an important facet of policing’.