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The garda, the bicycle and the damage done: what exactly happened?

Tougher approach to discipline has become one of the characteristics of Commissioner Drew Harris’ time in charge

Initially, it appears it was suspected two bikes and a very expensive set of wheels had been stolen from a Garda station in early 2020.
Initially, it appears it was suspected two bikes and a very expensive set of wheels had been stolen from a Garda station in early 2020.
Conor Lally's picture
Conor Lally
Mon Mar 11 2024 - 18:12

Why was a garda investigated for giving a bike to a local elderly man?

The short answer is because he took the bike from a Garda station without permission and also did not complete any paperwork declaring he had taken it, and setting out why.

The longer answer is because there’s been a major shift in Garda discipline since Garda Commissioner Drew Harris was appointed 5½ years ago and this garda was snared in that stricter system. However, the legal standing of the bike was that it was an item in the Garda’s evidence and exhibits system and it was also the property of the State.

[ Garda suspended after giving unclaimed bike to local is cleared of wrongdoing ]

So what exactly happened?

In early 2020, an elderly man – a retired farmer in his 70s who lived alone in the midlands – was urged to buy a bike on the recommendation of his doctor as he was suffering from circulation problems in his legs, resulting in blood clots. However, when the pandemic hit the local bike shop closed and he could not get the bike. He knew a local garda and asked him for help.

The garda obliged, initially securing a bike from an associate, though it was deemed unsuitable. He eventually took a bike from the local station, put it in a Garda van and delivered it to the man. The agreement was it was a borrowed bike and would be returned in time. However, when the bike disappeared from the station, apparently without explanation, it caused concern within the force locally. The matter was reported up the line and an investigation was commenced.

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But why was the investigation so serious?

Initially, it appears it was suspected two bikes and a very expensive set of wheels had been stolen from the station. However, one of those bikes was the first one the garda had secured and it was not property taken from a Garda station. While it appears two wheels did go missing, there was no evidence that incident was linked to the garda.

But faced with an initial official allegation that two bikes and two wheels had been taken from a station, an inquiry was commenced. The National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI) was tasked with that investigation. The NBCI is the force’s serious crimes squad and before the new Garda Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) became fully operational, it was often tasked – and at times still is – with investigating serious allegations made against gardaí.

The alleged theft of a bike – rather, two bikes and expensive wheels as initially believed – is not a minor matter. It would not be treated as a serious incident, as would the disappearance of any items registered in the Garda’s evidence and exhibits system. However, the NBCI’s involvement still seems like a heavy-handed approach.

So what happened next?

Initially, the investigation was a criminal one. That means detectives from the Dublin-based NBCI carried out a criminal inquiry, during which they searched the garda’s home, confiscated his phone for examination and went to the farmer’s house and took the bike. They also reviewed the CCTV footage showing the bike being taken from the local station.

When they had gathered up their statements and other evidence, they sent a file to the DPP. The accused garda was interviewed under caution as part of that process but was never arrested. However, while under investigation he was suspended. The bike had been taken from the station on May 3rd, 2020, and the NBCI team had searched the garda’s home one month later. The criminal inquiry, it seems, was completed very quickly. By April 2021, the DPP had already received and reviewed the case file and directed no crime had been committed.

So the garda was off the hook within 11 months?

Not quite. Though the criminal element of the case was dispensed with by April 2021, it then moved into a second arena, so to speak. This involved the case becoming an internal disciplinary matter and the garda remained suspended. Indeed, he remained suspended until August of last year, almost 3½ years after the investigations began. And even when he was reinstated last year, the garda was assigned to restricted duties, not dealing with the public in the manner he had done before, pending the outcome of the disciplinary process.

How did that process end?

The garda faced five alleged breaches of Garda disciplinary rules around allegedly taking the bike and giving it to a neighbour without permission. Though that disciplinary process began in April, 2021, the sworn inquiry – a hearing – did not commence until the start of last month; a near three-year delay. It concluded last Tuesday – after four sessions on different days – and the garda was cleared of any of the breaches of discipline. The farmer gave evidence, explaining he had asked for the bike in the context of the issues he had securing one for himself because of the pandemic.

March 2020 to March 2024, that seems like a long time?

Absolutely. The first 10 to 11 months of this saga is perhaps the easiest to understand; a complaint is made locally a bike was taken from a station without permission and this is backed by CCTV and other details, such as the bike being found. So an investigation is completed, file sent to the DPP, who directs there is no crime committed, therefore no charges.

That process was all done quite quickly – in the context of criminal investigations. Once a formal complaint was made, there was perhaps no way around holding a criminal investigation, though the involvement of the NBCI does seem excessive on the face of it. However, the second part of the process – the disciplinary action – is harder to understand, especially why it took so long.

Is Drew Harris under pressure over this?

Absolutely. The GRA has been very strongly critical of Drew Harris for years now and this is the latest episode it has taken up as evidence the commissioner is out of touch, as the association general secretary Ronan Slevin claimed last week.

“In essence I believe a sledgehammer of discipline was used to crack a nut and the reputation of a long serving member was damaged, his honesty questioned and his livelihood threatened,” he said.

Judge Gillian Hussey, who is now retired, also commented in a social media post that Harris should be fired over the incident. On Monday the Labour Party’s spokesman on justice, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD, said Harris “must now decide if he is part of the solution or part of the problem” in the Garda. He even suggested Harris’s commissionership was now, in itself, “undermining morale” in the force.

Why did Drew Harris take such a tough approach?

The matter was reported locally, so the investigation was generated by a colleague of the garda in question. The Irish Times also understands that much of the process – including the decision to suspend the garda and the decision to ask the NBCI to carry out the inquiry – was not made by Harris or anyone in Garda heaquaters.

But a much tougher approach to discipline generally has been one of the characteristics of Harris’s time in charge. He established the Anti Corruption Unit, saying it would seek or corruption in the Garda rather than waiting to receive allegations and the reacting with investigations. In late 2020, a policy document was circulated and set out a definition of corruption, including matters such as abusing position to gain any favour, even free entry to nightclubs or discounts in fast food outlets. So it has been clear for some time that even minor abuses of position would not be tolerated.

Before Harris was appointed commissioner in late 2018, the number of Garda members suspended from duty, pending allegations against them being investigated, was 30 to 40. After his appointment suspensions surged and were at or about 120 for long periods. A number of those cases have now been through the courts and resulted in serious convictions for Garda members, including domestic violence crimes such as coercive control. However, other gardaí, some suspended for long periods and over less serious matters, returned to work after being cleared.

A recent meeting of the Policing Authority heard there had been a 40 per cent reduction in new suspensions last year, a 70 per cent increase in suspensions coming to an end, and a 36 per cent decrease in disciplinary cases being commenced within the Garda. There were no suspensions in the first two months of this year.

The new chair of the authority, Elaine Byrne, told The Irish Times last month she believed Harris had sent out a signal – that wrongdoing would not be tolerated – to the Garda force in the years after his appointment, which involved an increase in suspensions. But she believed the recent series of convictions, followed by a lower number suspensions, was perhaps a sign he was changing the culture. This is, clearly, not something the GRA agrees with and it has made its views known with this latest case.

So this is over now?

Not quite.

The disciplinary process effectively ended a week ago. Within three weeks of that date, the board of inquiry must send its findings to Garda headquarters. Once that period has expired, we will know whether this is going to go further, including any steps the accused, now exonerated, garda might take such as a civil action.