Fears over exodus of top gardai
Cutbacks in overtime and allowances are spurring senior investigators to leave the force, writes Jim Cusack
The Government is about to announce the promotion of gardai to fill the record number of senior vacancies but members of the force are concerned about a "total breakdown" in the chain of command for major crime investigation.
While the promotions to fill the rank of assistant commissioner are to be announced by Cabinet, detectives are complaining there has been a massive depletion of senior and middle-ranking investigators with huge experience in tackling serious crime.
Four of the five vacant assistant commissioner positions are regional 'commander' posts. One source pointed last week to the imminent retirement of two highly experienced investigators of detective garda rank in the National Bureau of Crime Investigation (NBCI) and said the loss of these men would impact on investigations.
Fraud and criminal assets investigations are said to be among the most seriously affected areas. There is currently no chief superintendent in charge of the Fraud Bureau and the officer in charge of the Anglo Irish investigation, Detective Superintendent Pat Collins, has taken early retirement, at the age of 52, to join the anti-fraud section of Bank of Ireland. He worked closely for 18 months on the inquiry with Director of Corporate Enforcement Paul Appleby, who also announced his retirement last week.
The Anglo investigation, the largest fraud inquiry in the history of the Garda, is now headed by the one remaining detective superintendent in the Fraud Bureau.
Sources close to the Anglo investigation say that a chain-of-command system, where investigators could brief senior, experienced officers and be guided in their inquiries, no longer exists. This, it is said, is putting immense pressure on mid-ranking investigators.
The NBCI, which handles the most serious criminal investigations, including gangland murders, is so depleted of senior investigators that it is no longer able to function, according to senior sources. In recent months there has been a group retirement of investigators up to the rank of detective superintendent.
NBCI still has a detective chief superintendent, Padraig Kennedy, and two detective superintendents, but one of these superintendents is Christy Mangan who, with a team of seven detectives, is solely devoted to cold-case investigations. The operational control of all serious crime investigation is now overseen by the other detective superintendent in NBCI, John McMahon.
Last week the Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan said it was essential that officers currently on promotion lists be appointed to the vacant positions left by senior staff. "But even then there will still be gaps," he said. "There will still be a requirement for some of those officers to double up their work."
Senior sources say the exodus from the investigative ranks stems not from the changes to the cuts in public service retirement packages but to massive frustration at the cutbacks in overtime and allowances previously available to detectives involved in serious crime investigation. It is now the case, they say, that the NBCI is only capable of sending investigators to murder scenes at the start of major investigations then leaving the case to local detectives. Previously, teams of NBCI investigators would remain on the ground until the case was broken or they were directed to other major investigations.
The most serious long-term consequence, according to senior officers, is that the experience of older detectives will no longer be passed on and the skills required for the management of major investigations will be lost for good. Some are now proposing that retired senior detectives with track records are re-hired on a temporary basis to guide young investigators. This is done in the UK but not here.
The drift of senior investigators into the financial sector is a significant trend. The monthly meeting of the Irish Banking Security Advisory Group, attended by anti-fraud officials from all the main banking and financial institutions and cash-handling organisations, is said to be like a 'who's who' of retired garda investigators, who have all left in the recent past.
As well as the five assistant commissioner positions which are likely to be filled this week, there are now 16 chief superintendent posts vacant, along with 50 superintendents and 60 inspectors.
While there are concerns about the depletion of investigative experience, rank-and-file gardai are sceptical about what was claimed to be a management 'crisis' as a result of unfilled senior posts. They point out that less than 20 years ago there were only three assistant commissioners and there are now around 20 posts.
Originally published in
