TWENTY TWO MEMBERS of An Garda Síochána have been convicted of a crime over the past three and a half years.
The records – released under FOI for the first time by the Internal Affairs Section of the gardaí – detail a range of different convictions for officers.
The convictions cover drink driving, misuse of drugs, sexual crime, and an offence under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act.
The gardaí said details of disciplinary action taken against the convicted officers would not be released because it was “of a personal nature to the individuals involved”.
It said it needed to confidentially maintain details of its disciplinary proceedings and that this outweighed the public interest in knowing what, if any, sanction had applied to the gardaí involved.
The records show that two members were convicted under Section 52 of the Road Traffic Act, which covers offences of careless driving.
Another three gardaí were listed as having convictions under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 which deals with theft offences.
For offences under Section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act – covering harassment – there were two convictions.
A single conviction under Section 6(1) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act was recorded, as was a conviction under Section 3 Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act relating to sexual exploitation of children.
There was one offence recorded under Section 62 of the Garda Síochána Act relating to disclosure of confidential information.
One conviction under Section 25 of the Criminal Justice Act covering Theft and Fraud Offences was listed as was a conviction under Section 12 of the Criminal Law Act on “providing false reports”.
A garda member was also convicted under Section 5 of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, which deals with production and distribution of child pornography.
One member received a conviction under Section 4 of the Road Traffic Act, covering driving while under the influence. They were also convicted of having no NCT or tax.
A single conviction relating to a drink driving offence in Northern Ireland has also been listed.
Two further convictions under Section 4 of the Road Traffic Act – driving while intoxicated or exceeding alcohol limits – have been recorded by gardaí.
Another member was convicted under the Misuse of Drugs Act while one garda had a conviction under Section 26 of the Theft and Fraud Offences Act along with a road traffic conviction.
The garda record also included one person convicted under Section 45 of the Criminal Justice (Sexual Offences) Act relating to exposure or offensive conduct of a sexual nature.
A further conviction for a sex crime under Section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act was also recorded by their Internal Affairs section.
The details were obtained by transparency group Right to Know following an appeal to An Garda Síochána, who had originally refused to release them.
A spokeswoman for An Garda Síochána said: “[We] do not comment on individual cases.
“Any procedures invoked as to a member being convicted of a criminal offence is on a case by case basis and is carried out based solely on the merits of each individual case and specificity of each case which is presented to the organisation.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say