Revealed: The evidence room in disarray at station
IN March 2012, after the complaints by an alleged sexabuse victim about how Detective Garda McGowan had investigated her case, then Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan sent an inquiry team to Bray Garda Station.
According to documents seen by the Irish Mail on Sunday the team was instructed to ‘carry out a comprehensive examination’ into the management of Bray District.
Over a number of months in 2012 the Garda Professional Standards Unit (GPSU) carried out an inquiry titled ‘Investigation into the Management and Investigation into Criminal Complaints at Bray District’. The report,
published in December 2012, slammed management and procedures at that station.
It said: ‘Garda policies were not consistently applied or administered with the Bray District.’
Among a raft of critical findings it said that ‘there is significant scope for improvement in the supervision... by management’. The GPSU report said that ‘in 73% of cases of a sexual crime nature examined, supervisors did not carry out sufficient review of incidents.’
At one stage 45% of files could not be found when requested by the inquiry team. This number was reduced to 30% after more were later located.
A photograph published in this newspaper shows the disordered condition the evidence storage room was left in at the station. Articles are thrown in piles on the floor.
The introduction of the report says this examination was prompted by the events surrounding Detective Garda McGowan’s sexual-abuse investigation.
The operation of the Pulse IT system, which should be used to record all crime, was strongly criticised in the report.
‘The creation, updating and reviewing of Pulse incidents was not consistent across units and sections in the Bray District. There was no system in place to manage this risk,’ it read.