GSOC reflects on difficult year at launch of 2013 report
The Garda Ombudsman has said it has been a busy and at times difficult year, with more than 2,000 complaints made against Gardaí.
GSOC has launched their annual report which shows public confidence is dropping, with an 11% decrease in the number of people who believe the ombudsman is effective in making Gardaí accountable for their actions.
The four most common types of allegation against Gardaí were related to abuse of authority, 34%; neglect of duty, 27%; non-fatal offences, 13% and discourtesy, 11% of the 2,027 total complaints made.
The Chairman of GSOC, Simon O’Brien, has said it is now time to move on from the bugging controversy after the Cooke Report found no evidence of surveillance by members of the Gardaí.
"We can report the encouraging signs in our interaction with the Garda Síochána in terms of information exchange. We're now at a place where we've renegotiated and resigned the protocols," said O’Brien.
"Where we had significant problems with the exchange of information where perhaps only three out of ten requests would have come in on time. We are now getting to a point this year (where) the indication is more than eight in ten are coming in on time so we're working on that".
"There's still some work to be done," he finished.
The view the report in full click here.
