In January 2012, Sgt Maurice McCabe made a
confidential complaint about then Garda commissioner Martin Callinan. McCabe’s
beef was that the commissioner was about to promote a superintendent, whom,
McCabe alleged, had, as district officer in Bailieboro, Co Cavan, been
negligent in a whole range of serious criminal investigations. McCabe cited the
12 most serious cases in his complaint.
Shatter dealt with the matter by referring it
to the commissioner, a course of action criticised in the Geurin report.
The main issue, however, is that the
commissioner was apparently intent on promoting the superintendent — referred
to in Guerin as Foxtrot — irrespective of his record. It didn’t matter that the
station sergeant had compiled a list of up to 40 cases that reflected badly on
Foxtrot’s management. It didn’t matter that an investigation by an assistant
commissioner had upheld some of the less serious complaints. (The most serious
would all be fully endorsed by Guerin, who vindicated McCabe’s judgement
entirely.)
All that mattered was Foxtrot’s time had come.
He had served as a Super for four years. He was, by all accounts, “a decent
man”. Some within HQ might even have felt sympathy for him, for having his work
subjected to scrutiny by a “whistleblower” within the force.
Even after the complaint in January 2012,
channelled through the minister for justice, no pause for consideration was
given. Foxtrot was promoted within weeks. Another member of the club getting a
leg-up to a higher salary, a better pension, a little more status. Neither the
standard of work and supervision he had done, nor the appalling public service
dished out to some victims of crime during his tenure, held any sway. That was
stuff to be quietly brushed under the carpet, while pursuing the greater goal
of “doing right by one of our own”.
Foxtrot’s experience was not unique. Another
senior officer, now retired, was given a promotion in his last year of service,
despite being seriously criticised by a High Court judge in the preceding
months. All that apparently mattered was the man in question would be in line
for a better pension if promoted, and so he was.
One of the main issues that informed McCabe’s
complaints was a lack of engagement with the day-to-day policing by
Superintendent Foxtrot. The Inspectorate’s conclusions of general policing
concurred.
“While many senior gardai stated that they have
an ‘open door policy’, it was highlighted (by rank and file members) that very
few step outside of that door and engage with their staff.”
This paucity of leadership is key to the
failings highlighted by the Inspectorate. What emerges from the report is a
picture in which superintendents are absent, for one reason or another, from
the frontline, leading inevitably to a serious deficit in standards and
discipline. Even those Supers who rail against the moribund culture at senior
level are tied up with administration and being redeployed from the frontline
for a whole range of other functions.
And what if a superintendent brought to the
attention of senior management structural problems? Would it affect his or her
career, their status within the club? Would he be regarded, as Sgt McCabe was,
with suspicion rather than welcomed for enunciating fresh ideas? Little wonder
then that there is virtually never a breaking of the ranks once officers have
begun to rise through the ranks.
Another crucial issue raised also echoes with
what happened in Bailieboro. In the focused career ladder climbing there is a
“churn” of superintendents in many districts. Again, this practice cuts through
the type of continuity that basic leadership requires.
The Morris Tribunal identified this shortcoming
in Donegal, and recommended that superintendents spend at least two years at a
posting. Yet Guerin highlighted that over the course of McCabe’s less than four
years as station sergeant in Bailieboro, he served under five superintendents.
(The first four were all fulsome in their praise to Geurin of McCabe’s
professionalism.)
The Inspectorate identified the problems
associated with churning, and pointed out that many superintendents travel long
distances to work, rather than relocate to their new district.
Among the recommendation are to “introduce
minimum term tenure for chief superintendents and superintendents” and “Develop
a new approach to the posting and deployment of superintendents and other
supervisors”. If such measures had been implemented post Morris, things would
hardly be as bad as they have been exposed in this week’s report.
A leadership deficit isn’t confined to the
force. One of the more shocking findings of the Inspectorate is the lack of
basic training. The bulk of all garda recruits since 2005 — numbering 5,000 in
total — have not received training in basic interviewing techniques, while a
third of detectives are not properly trained.
This is a direct legacy of the “auction”
politics of law and order exhibited by government and opposition during the
bubble years. It was all about the number of recruits, and to hell with the
quality. If the government said garda numbers would be raised to 12,000, the
opposition would demand 13,000 and so on.
All that mattered was what could be put on an
election poster to simply illustrate a commitment to “fighting crime”. No
consideration was given for the implications of shoving increased numbers into Templemore
without corresponding enhanced training facilities and personnel.
The disregard for proper training was best
illustrated by the then minister for justice Michael McDowell, who wanted one
in every four gardai to be a “reserve”, or part-time, hobby bobby. Sure,
anybody can do this policing lark, just throw on a hat and a badge and off you
go.
The complete lack of leadership, both within
the force and from its political masters, has been key to the failings
highlighted this week. A new police authority is expected to take the politics
out of policing, but we’ll have to wait and see whether that expectation will
be properly met. An even bigger pointer is who will be tasked with pulling the
force free from the nefarious elements of its culture.
The choice of new commissioner of the force
will tell a lot
By Michael Clifford
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