Calls to ‘roll out road check devices to all gardaí’

Separately, the Policing Authority said members outside of garda stations should have access to “real time” information.

Karl Robertson, aged 28, from Kilmore, north Dublin, was fatally injured when he was struck by a van driven by Patrick Morgan in nearby Artane on March 8, 2017.

Morgan, who was given a five-year sentence last May for dangerous driving causing death, had three driving bans at the time.

Gardaí have no way when stopping drivers to instantly check their record at the roadside.

The Robertson family called on the ministers of justice and transport to extend a trial of handheld devices with gardaí in Limerick to all traffic gardaí.

GRA director of communications John O’Keeffe said they had been critical for some time at the “lack of modern policing facilities” available to frontline members, both inside and outside their patrol cars.

For example, currently only Roads Policing cars have Automatic Number Plate Recognition (‘ANPR’) fitted. All other garda cars, marked or otherwise, are not routinely fitted with this critical detection device.

“Furthermore, nor do frontline gardaí (in addition, or as an alternative) have access to handheld technology to check a driver’s record at the roadside.”

He said the pilot, which forms part of the Modernisation and Renewal Programme 2016-2021, was launched in the Limerick division in November 2017.

He said a total of 41 mobile devices have been distributed across sections, from the regular unit, the traffic corps, community policing and crime unit.

The mobile devices allow members to do operational access lookups while on patrol and remove the necessity to contact the communications,” he said.

He said the pilot of the Active Mobility Project in Limerick was seen as the first step for An Garda Síochána in the deployment of secure mobile technology.

“The focus of the pilot is to understand mobile technologies, the effect on policing and the ability of the ICT team and the wider organisation to adopt these new technologies into policing,” said Mr O’Keeffe.

He added: “To date, the feedback from members who have been issued with the mobile devices is very positive and all feedback is being recorded and reviewed. Once the pilot is complete, we call on management to roll out these handheld devices across the force, to ensure that our frontline men and women may police our roads with modern equipment that is in keeping with best international practices.”

In a statement, the Policing Authority said: “The Policing Authority considers that frontline gardaí should have access to real-time information to improve efficiency and allow members to be present more outside of stations.”

It said their recently published fifth report to the justice minister on the implementation of Garda reform welcomed the mobility pilot project and outlined some of the “expected benefits and challenges”.

The statement added: “We look forward to receiving the evaluation report of the pilot project and any consequent plans that the Garda Commissioner has for rollout.”

Speaking after the inquest on Wednesday, Mr Robertson’s family said the driver had three driving bans.

We believe that the inability of the gardaí to identify this disqualified driver, prior to the collision, led directly to Karl’s death,” the family said in a statement.

They called on the ministers of justice and transport to extend the hand-held devices, which formed part of the Limerick pilot, to all traffic gardaí.

“These devices will give gardaí instant access to a driver’s record when carrying out their roadside checkpoints,” the family said.

Morgan pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and sentenced to five years and disqualified from driving for 10 years.

No response was received from the departments of justice or transport, nor from An Garda Síochána, before going to press.