TECH DELAYS HIT GARDAI PROBES Fears over 3-year backlog’s impact on child abuse cases
THE three-year backlog to examine digital devices, which includes child abuse imagery, is a “critical weakness” for gardai, a Policing Authority report has said.
The authority warned their “enduring concern” is the backlog on electronic devices following their seizure.
This, it said, impacts the timelines of investigations, the potential identification of victims, and the journey of victims through the justice system.
Its latest report said the backlog is a “critical weakness” for the Garda Siochana, warning it has the potential to have “considerable impact” on investigations, victims and suspects.
“Despite reported increases in productivity in terms of the triaging and analysing of devices, the backlog remains,” it said.
“The demands of modern policing are such that it is unlikely that the challenges around cyber and cyber enabled crime, which includes child sexual exploitation, are likely to abate.”
Targets
Gardai set targets in 2019 to slash waiting times to under 12 months, however, it has struggled.
The authority said significant and immediate action is needed urgently.
“Resourcing in this instance, as is the case across the organisation, may most suitably be the allocation of specialist Garda staff,” the report added.
It said that there continues to be “considerable success” in disrupting organised crime groups (OCGs).
The report noted there were no threats to life in the first half of 2022, something it described as an “extraordinary marker of success”.
And it paid tribute to the force’s wins against the Kinahan crime cartel, noting: “In particular the collaboration with international partners to respond to the activities of the Kinahan OCG, as well as disrupting the activities of other OCGs in collaboration with UK, EU and other partners, represents landmark success.”
“Certainly the organisation is under considerable strain in terms of the various demands that we have to meet across a very wide range of responsibilities.
“Against that context, resourcing certainly is an issue that we’re constantly looking at, that we are constantly talking to the Department (of Justice).
“Our resourcing is obviously always under review.
But it has to be said over the last number of years the demands placed on An Garda Siochana have continued to grow.
“Our population continues to grow but also the variety of issues that we’re dealing with, not just antisocial behaviour but also crime committed through cyber and fraud and then international crime, where we are involved in the investigation of organised crime groups.”