Inquiry set up into taping of phone calls from Garda stations

The problem with the cuffs is that there is nothing set in stone as to the use of them, and it's left up to the discretion of the arresting Garda. But the arresting Garda has to be satisified that the arrested person is liable to either flee from custody or is likely to get violent (as grounded in the recent case before the courts). The problem with that is, how do you know how someone might react in the back of a patrol car after being arrested. As bubblypop rightly said, everything could be hunky dorey until they see the station and they just randomly kick off. Having being in that situation myself, it's a very hard call to make, as you can't guarantee that arrested persons will continue to be co-operative through the whole process. The issue was raised with management, and a change to the code/law needs to be brought into practice whereby every arrested person is to be handcuffed on health and safety grounds. But that is a massive undertaking, with legal ramifications to be considered and avenues to be taken, it's not something which can be done overnight.

As for the recording of calls, not all members would have been aware, and initially i was not. But it was my understanding that the calls are recorded for internal purposes only, ie: if someone rings in a bomb threat and rants off the details and hangs up before details can be verified, the call can be listened back to in order to get those details. Same applies in cases of someone ringing in urgency and not all the details could be collected before the caller hung up/the call ended for whatever reason. I do not know of any case where the call to the station (non-999) was used as evidence in court, as i'm pretty sure management would be aware that recording of non-999 calls cannot be used as evidence. I have heard of solicitors looking for recordings of the calls though, so some of them were aware of it also. But, also as stated, this practice has stopped since November last year, and only 999 calls are recorded and appear exempt from having to have both parties informed that the calls are recorded. Also, and again to the best of my knowledge and having not heard or experienced otherwise, the "prisoner phone", that is the phone by the custody record, is not recorded, and rightly so to avoid any breaches of the ECHR. Storm in a tea-cup and (re-)released at a convenient time.

Also regarding the penalty points fiasco, regular members of Garda and Sergeant rank do not, and did not, have the authority to cancel FCPS tickets, only someone of Inspector rank or above could do it. So a previous person was right in saying that frontline members may not have been aware of the cancellation of tickets (Gardaí of any rank cannot cancel points off a licence (they are put on a licence by a third party - These records are held on the National Vehicle and Driver file operated by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.), they can only cancel summons/tickets which have yet to be served/paid - for whatever reasons). As far as frontline members are concerned (in my opinion), once the ticket is issued it's out of our control.

porsche959 wrote: »

The public will be the judge of that.

And i've no problem with that, let them. Should it transpire that the recordings were used for illegal purposes, i will join the condemnation, but i wonder would those who are calling for heads to roll be as quick to state that they were wrong should it transpire that nothing illegal occurred and it was only used for the reasons i outlined above, or similar (non-illegal and understandable) reasons.

Faux outrage and a load of huff and puff ,
Can't see why so many people are getting upset over this

keith16 wrote: »

Then you seriously need to look at what an open and transparent democracy means to you.

Democracy really ,

Whether it be wikileaks or other so called defenders of freedom and democracy ,

Where does this effect the average Joe it doesn't ,

Its the same with the pulse system all huff and puff every time it gets mentioned

Let's all go and demand all the prisons now be emptied and convictions over turned ,

Ask anyone how this directly effects them they will struggle to string a sentence together other ohhh I heard this and this mate said in this,

At the time Ian bailey declared himself No1 prime suspect at the time of the murder and ran to any news paper that would listen to him ,

And to this day nobody has asked him why he declared himself prime suspect,

That's a whole different thread

I find it disturbing that GSOC felt it was ok to use the recordings as part of their investigation into the alleged assault in Waterford. Ironically it only came to notice by their illegal use of the recordings. The DPP who would have recommended the prosecution against the gardai also saw no problem with it and sought to use it. I think the people involved in this case have had their rights hugely infringed and I wouldn't be surprised if they take legal action. The DPP has serious questions to answer like the AG and minister.

sillyoulfool wrote: »

?........................
Looks like Martin Callinan was the leader of the biggest organized crime gang in the state, colluding with terrorists (Smithwick Report), drug dealers (Boylan case), illegally taping phones, cancelling penalty points for friends, family and influential people, ignoring the rape of a child and refusing for four years to hand over the files on the case to GSOC,...etc.. etc..

.......but other than those 'minor' matters, aren't the Gardai a fine body of men and women doing a grand job altogether................:eek:


NOT.

Roger_007 wrote: »

.......but other than those 'minor' matters, aren't the Gardai a fine body of men and women doing a grand job altogether................:eek:


NOT.

Ya every garda in the country is a corrupt person:rolleyes:

There are a few and these need to be weeded out and a radical rethink of the force needs to be done.