Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has acknowledged the findings of a report which revealed “poor behaviour” surrounding the cancelling of 999 calls by gardai.
The report identified “substantial shortcomings” in call handling, including incidents where some call takers did not take sufficient time to assess the vulnerability of callers, and some officers specifically requesting the emergency call incident be cancelled.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin called some of the findings “very worrying” and “a serious issue”.
Read More: Report into 999 calls cancelled by gardai identifies 'substantial shortcomings'
Mr Harris acknowledged there were “missed opportunities” to engage with callers and could not give a “complete assurance” on the behaviour of call takers.
“We’ve also had to deal with individuals in the very recent past whose performance has not been up to scratch and provided poor performance,” he said.
The Policing Authority published its final report on the force’s review of the closure of computer-aided dispatch (CAD) incidents.
The authority commissioned Derek Penman to carry out an examination in July 2021, having become aware in December 2020 of issues relating to the invalid closure of CAD incidents.
Thousands of emergency calls were cancelled, meaning some victims did not receive help.
The final report was published after Mr Penman and his team listened to recordings of 210 calls made to the service to assess the quality of the response.
The report said that overall, call takers were meeting the standards of service that the public should expect, but warned there were “inconsistencies both within and across the four regional control rooms”.
It continued: “Several incidents were identified with substantial shortcomings in call handling.
“Although there was the potential for serious harm to victims due to such shortcomings, no actual harm was identified from the sample examined in the call listening phase.
“However, it is not possible to determine whether serious harm occurred in incidents where callers or potential victims were not identified.”
It also said there was “very limited evidence” of any supervisory checks over the emergency calls, and added: “There are incidents where the information provided by callers was not accurately recorded.
“At times, this meant that Garda Siochana members were dispatched to the wrong locations, and callers could not be re-contacted.
“Although not quantified, there were occasions where the Garda Siochana was unable to provide a service, and in terms of the Garda Siochana’s CAD review, some callers remain unidentified.
“The issues around the ageing CAD system and other legacy technologies in use across regional control rooms are indicative of a chronic lack of investment.
“However, the cancellation of calls requires a specific action on the part of a call handler in order to cancel a call and therefore the technology was not deemed to be a significant contributory factor.”
Mr Penman has recommended that the Garda concludes its CAD review and concentrates its resources on improving call handling.
Policing Authority chairman Bob Collins said issues such as supervision, selection processes for specific roles and performance management should be addressed “so that the public can continue to have the confidence that it needs to have in the 999 emergency call service”.
At a public meeting between the Policing Authority and Mr Harris at Dublin Castle, Mr Collins said the final report revealed “a very significant and important episode in the life of the organisation”.
He said it showed the importance of ensuring the quality of the service provided by gardai, to ensure that the “service to people at their most vulnerable is as it should be”.
“There is considerable work still to be done, and it’s a never-ending task, it’s not concluded by the finalisation of Mr Penman’s work. It is a work of continuing, unceasing significance and importance for the public and An Garda Siochana.”
Mr Harris acknowledged there were “missed opportunities” to engage with callers, and that the final phase of the review – the discipline process – is yet to be carried out.
“[The report] obviously informs our own assessment as well that there were missed opportunities to engage with callers, even if there wasn’t a crime, but certainly we’ve identified as well cases of poor behaviour by Garda personnel.”
He said the new CAD system, training and sampling of calls had been put in place.
“I can’t give a complete assurance about the behaviour of those who take the calls. Even with all of that, we’ve also had to deal with individuals in the very recent past whose performance has not been up to scratch and provided poor performance,” he said.
“So we are dealing with very much, I would say, a human endeavour. The individuals within the control rooms do work hard, do work in very stressful circumstances at times, and they are very conscious of the next calls arriving in as well.
“So there’s just not an element of ‘here’s his standard’ and being ruthless around that.
“We have responsibility around the welfare of those who are taking calls, often in very difficult circumstances… finding that balance is about the explanation of the importance of this work, and making sure people are appropriately selected and skilled and assessed in the work they do, but also then supported going forward. because we do recognise the absolute importance of the correct handling of calls right from the start.”
Mr Harris said officials would consider monitoring calls to local Garda stations, but said it would be resource-heavy.
Deputy Commissioner Anne Marie McMahon said the number of supervisors to call takers had been “substantially increased” after the review “shone a light into the control rooms”.
“We have substantially increased the supervisors. We’re still not where we would like to be in terms of having a two per unit, but they’re substantially increased.”
Policing Authority member Shalom Binchy pointed out examples in the report that found some call-takers were “rude”, “impatient”, and “lacked empathy”.
Ms McMahon replied: “While there were examples of very good practice, there were also examples where we didn’t display that empathy and that curiosity that one would expect when somebody is calling in from a vulnerable position or a position of crisis.”
Mr Martin said the report’s findings were “very worrying”, and he expected Mr Harris to outline steps being taken to address a “serious issue”.
“I think the public must have complete confidence in that system that when they ring a 999 call that they get an immediate and appropriate response, because obviously, in the vast, vast majority of cases people ring that number when they are in distress and in need of support,” he said.
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