Report showing many roads gardaí not doing jobs 'shocking'

RTÉ News​

6 days ago

The chairperson of the Policing and Community Safety Authority has described as "shocking" a report which shows that a substantial number of gardaí assigned to Roads Policing are not doing their jobs and have no interest in doing them.
The Garda Commissioner has promised to publish the Crowe Report which also shows that gardaí who were not carrying out their duties did not care that they were being monitored, and that their managers were not dealing with the problem.
Drew Harris called their actions "brazen and contemptuous" and the report's conclusions "sobering".
The disturbing details in this report emerged on the day that the gardaí launched another of its road safety campaigns.
An independent review of roads policing was launched after a garda whistleblower informed garda headquarters that a substantial number of the gardaí tasked with policing the roads were not doing their jobs.
The chairperson of the policing and community safety authority also pointed out that garda managers and supervisors in charge of those gardaí, were either unable, unwilling or afraid to do anything about it
The chairperson of the Policing and Community Safety Authority described the report as shocking and said there are members within roads policing who seem very much disinterested in their job.
The report also showed that not only were these gardaí not conducting speed checks or tests for drink and drug driving, they also did not care that they were being monitored and that their failure to do their job had been identified by the independent investigators.
The chairperson Elaine Byrne also said she was not only concerned about the blatant disregard some members have, when they knew they were being reviewed by this but also about the absence of performance management.
"They were in the cars with people, and they were openly hostile to doing their job," she said.
"And I think once that report is published, you'll see that, but also perhaps another thing that we were shocked about is that there seem to be a deference or a fear of some management, of not actually doing performance management, and just a fear of actually being managers within guards, within Roads Policing."
The Garda Commissioner called the actions of the gardaí "brazen" and "contemptuous" and said a working group had been established to implement its recommendations.
He also said it was not just a matter of moving people on because the issues identified were "systemic".
The findings of this report will be particularly distressing to the families of people who have lost loved ones on the roads because of speed, dangerous, drink or drug driving.