Garda shoots dog in Longford

tuxy wrote: »

Did I miss the update or are GSOC taking their time with this investigation?

I'm sure it is top of their "to do" list

Was the dog armed? Or was it self defence? I've seen guard dogs that would put you in hospital fairly quickly.

tuxy wrote: »

You know the answer to that if you read any of my other posts on this.
My interest is now on the GSOC investigation on the incident.

Fair enough so ,,,, I’m sure the report will come out in time , as it’s not of major importance cause I’m sure it wouldn’t even make the papers or news , so no real rush. The report will say the detective acted well within his parameters of his work and no further action will be required .

tuxy wrote: »

Did I miss the update or are GSOC taking their time with this investigation?

It takes GSOC a lot longer than you might think to publish these reports, primarily because even after the investigation has been completed, there's a whole process they go through with the parties involved, and, if they believe wrongdoing to have occurred, with Garda management and potentially the DPP in the case of alleged crimes by members of the force. They usually also furnish their report to the Justice Committee of the Oireachtas, and only after all these steps have been taken do they publish it for general consumption.

The reason for this is two-fold, I imagine: Firstly, because they'll want to include in their final report what the outcome was in terms of Gardaí being disciplined, prosecuted, and if the latter, convicted or acquitted. Secondly, if there are indeed criminal charges pending, their report will almost certainly form part of the evidence the DPP uses in the case, and they would therefore not publish it for general consumption until after the case was concluded, to avoid compromising the trial.

This incident happened last December, which isn't all that long ago when you think about how slowly disciplinary procedures tend to go in any organisation, and particularly if any matters arose for the DPP to consider for potential prosecution. There have been cases investigated by GSOC (granted, more complicated cases than this one but even so) which didn't have reports published until years after the investigation was opened. This is usually compounded if there's any obstruction of GSOC's investigation by the Gardaí, although this has only been reported to have happened in the most high profile and controversial cases.

Probably worth throwing them an email to see if they have any comment to make about the progress of the investigation, but I'd bet almost anything they'll reply with "the matter is still under active investigation / the matter is currently being considered by the DPP / the matter is currently before the courts, and therefore we cannot comment until the conclusion of these procedures". When it's finished, they'll report.