GARDA MANAGEMENT HAS launched an internal investigation after it emerged more 999 calls were cancelled and not dealt with in a proper fashion.
The Policing Authority today heard that over 50 calls were cancelled even after it came to national attention that hundreds of thousands of calls had been cancelled over a 12 month period, leading to many crimes going uninvestigated.
More than 200,000 calls were cancelled over a two-year period between 2019 and 2020, the ongoing garda review this year found, with 23,000 of those classed as ‘priority’ calls. Three thousand of these calls related to domestic violence.
While many of those cancellations were found to be valid cancellations or duplicates, thousands – including a significant number of calls relating to domestic abuse – were incorrectly cancelled.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris told the authority that a garda had brought the issue to the attention of management and that several officers are now under investigation as to why they cancelled the calls.
Harris described the issue as “disappointing” and said disciplinary proceedings could be brought against those who cancelled the calls.
The commissioner also said that, judging by initial investigations into the cancelled calls, there does not appear to be a pattern of calls that were being not being answered. There was no evidence to suggest that gardaí were refusing to take calls from certain people or groups, Harris said.
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