Common sense is important in policing, but not here apparently

An article in the Guardian newspaper reported that more than 1,800 police officers recruited under Boris Johnson’s manifesto pledge to increase numbers, resigned last year. Johnson had promised to add 20,000 police officers to forces in England and Wales by March 2023 in an attempt to address the austerity cuts.

More than 15,000 officers had been recruited, according to the government but, following a freedom of information request, the newspaper found that at least 1,837 of officers who joined under the scheme had already quit. The newspaper suggested the figure could be much higher, as 19 of the 43 forces in England and Wales did not provide data.

That sounds familiar. According to the Department of Justice, 164 garda members resigned from the force last year, compared with 109 the previous year, 94 in 2021 and 70 in 2020. A total of 72 resigned in 2019, 77 in 2018 and 41 in 2017.

It’s not that long ago that joining An Garda Siochana meant a job for life but it seems that many of the new recruits these days are finding it isn’t the job they thought it was and they’re throwing in the towel in increasing numbers.

Antoinette Cunningham, the soon to retire General Secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors says the job is no longer attractive, largely due to the core issues of health and safety, working conditions, excessive oversight, bureaucratic systems, pensions and the heightened levels of abuse. With 33 years’ experience behind her she’s certainly in a position to comment.

I retired in 2015 so I can’t speak about the current working conditions, but it’s obvious that garda management has a problem with resignations and attracting new members. Changes to pension, pay and conditions are being cited as the main cause but reputational damage from some controversaries hasn’t helped either.

Representative bodies have reported poor morale is also a factor. An abundance of oversight has been cited as another issue with the Garda Inspectorate, Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission, the Policing Authority and now the Garda Anti-Corruption Unit (GACU) watching every move.

When I joined in 1979, we had more freedom to use our initiative, but we were still a disciplined organisation. We operated to a set of rules laid down in the Garda Siochana Code and if we stepped out of line, we were called to account. There were rogue operators too but the vast majority of those I served with played by those rules.

Most were working and living in the community and doing their bit to enhance the quality of life for everyone in a safe environment. It’s what An Garda Siochana was instructed to do on its formation in 1922; go out and live and work among the community. For over a century they have become part of people’s everyday lives, but hat could get a garda into trouble these days.

There was a story earlier in the year in the Irish Independent concerning a garda who was suspended for three years after giving an elderly man in the midlands an unclaimed bicycle that had been lying around the garda station. It was during Covid, and the older man was living in an isolated area and needed a bicycle to get out to the shops.

His own bike was unusable and the garda became aware of this. He knew there was a bike in the station that nobody had claimed so he gave it to the older man to help him out. That good deed brought the wrath of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation down upon him.

In 2020 they raided his home and also called to home of the older man and took possession of the bicycle. The Garda Commissioner suspended the long-serving garda for three years while the case was investigated by specialist investigators in the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

At the end of their investigation, it was decided the garda had no criminal case to answer and the officer concerned was reinstated.

That wasn’t the end of the matter though. Disciplinary proceedings were instigated against the garda because he neglected to fill out the necessary paperwork. While that process was underway, he was confined to “restricted duties”, which meant he could not deal with the public he’d sworn to serve.

That case came before a board comprised of a legal professional, a superintendent and a chief superintendent unconnected to the case. The garda faced five disciplinary charges including discreditable conduct, disobedience, misuse of property and neglect of duty. That garda has now been cleared of any wrongdoing by the disciplinary inquiry.

A four-day hearing was held last February and by early March the board rejected all five disciplinary charges. The board’s decision was sent to the Garda Commissioner who can decide to accept or reject it.

In light of that, you’d have to wonder what all the fuss was about in the first place? How was a seemingly innocent good deed identified as a case with such potential criminal implications that it required the services of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation to investigate it? And who made that initial determination?

An Garda Síochána has an obligation to protect people from the risks and effects of corrupt behaviour, and to prevent and prosecute any form of corruption that impacts upon the delivery of a quality policing service to the community. That’s as it should be, but in recent times, they seem to have gone over the top with their interpretation of corruption.

During my 35 years in An Garda Siochana, I was fortunate enough to serve under many fine officers who held senior positions in the organisation, most of whom were blessed with some degree of common sense. Unfortunately, that commodity appears to be sadly lacking in the Force today.