Tag Archives: Garda

Garda checkpoint earlier this month; Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan

Yesterday…

In the Business Post

Aiden Corkery reported that An Garda Síochána are looking into using drones as part of their work. Mr Corkery reported:

Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan said that a working group within the force has begun studying how it could use drones in a variety of roles such as crime scene mapping, evidence collection, traffic management, investigation of collisions, public order policing, crowd control, search and rescue operations and frontline unit support.

…The Minister’s comments were in response to a parliamentary question from Jim O’Callaghan, Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman, who said it was surprising that the force was not already using drones.

“The use of drones would be very helpful in certain police work such as mapping crime scenes and securing evidence arising from fatal collisions on our roads,” O’Callaghan told the Business Post.

“The minister and Gardaí should expedite the use of drones in certain types of police work so that the latest technological advancements are available to the Gardaí in their ongoing efforts to protect the public.”

Gardaí to look into using drones for first time (Aiden Corkery, Business Post)

Meanwhile, also yesterday in the Business Post

Further to a report in March by Sean Finnan in the Dublin Inquirer about the installation of Hikvision CCTV with facial recognition technology at Bluebell Community Centre in Inchicore by Dublin City Council…

Peter O’Dwyer reported that Dublin City Council will no longer use Hikvision cameras:

The council confirmed that it had not installed Hikvision cameras at any other locations in the city, nor did it intend to do so going forward.

“Hikvision cameras were not installed in any other projects, only conventional CCTV cameras. DCC does not propose to use Hikvision cameras [at any other location],” the spokeswoman said.

It’s not yet clear if the new National Children’s Hospital will use the technology that has now been dropped by Dublin City Council.

DCC to cease using ‘blacklisted’ CCTV firm (Peter O’Dwyer, Business Post)

Previously: Then Your Children Will Be Next

Rollingnews

From top: The Herald cover of September 18, 2015; Store Street Garda Station

This morning.

The Irish Examiner reports female civilian garda Lynn Margiotta, who works at Store Street Garda Station in Dublin city, and her brother Dr Tony Margiotta, ended up before a judge in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last month over sick notes.

The case against Ms Margiotta collapsed after Judge Patricia Ryan ruled her rights had been abused as she had been denied access to a solicitor while in custody, and her privacy breached as her medical records had been accessed without her consent.

The case against her brother Dr Margiotta was also dropped.

Mick Clifford reports:

“The prosecution’s case was that Dr Margiotta had provided his sister with medical certs to say she was not fit for work. The gardaí did not dispute that she was unwell at the time, but claimed the medical certs were obtained by deception.

“The certs were signed by Dr Margiotta, but bore the stamp of other doctors who worked or had worked in the practice where he was working. The trial heard that an expert had given an opinion that locum doctors using the stamp of another doctor in a practice is not unusual.”

Now, Ms Margiotta wants a full inquiry into the matter.

The Examiner reports that three gardai from Store Street Garda Station arrested Ms Margiotta at her home in Navan, Co Meath on August 11, 2014 – three weeks after she made a complaint of bullying against a Garda member – and told her she was under arrest for fraud.

They told her this was in connection with how she got sick notes for days missed at work, despite nobody from Human Resources speaking with her about the matter first.

She had missed work “over a dozen occasions” between January and July 2014, during which she suffered a form of depression following the death of her mother, to whom she was very close.

Ms Margiotta was arrested a second time, on September 18, 2015.

This was reported on the front page of The Herald with the headline “Dublin based garda employee arrested for using ‘fake sick certs’.”

The newspaper reported:

“She was putting in sick certs for days that is it suspected she was not sick at all…If a prosecution does happen, it is understood that it will be the first time in the history of the State that an employee will be hauled before the courts for allegedly providing fake sick notes to their employer.”

Ms Margiotta was later released that day.

But on Saturday, June 10, 2017 she was at her father’s house in Finglas when gardai called again and told her she was to be taken to court to be charged.

Another 21 months passed before the case came before Judge Patricia Ryan and collapsed.

Ms Margiotta hasn’t been contacted by her employer since her arrest in August 2014; she has been mainly without an income since; and she has yet to be informed about what happened to her bullying complaint.

Call for inquiry into Garda sick notes probe (Michael Clifford, The Irish Examiner)

Disturbing questions arise in case against civilian member of gardaí over sick certs (Michael Clifford, The Irish Examiner)

Related: Trial of garda civil servant in relation to use of bogus sick certs collapses (The Irish Times, March 26, 2019)

Pic: Irish Examiner

From top: This morning’s Irish Daily Mail; Irish Times

Further to the shooting incident involving a Garda detective in Longford on Monday evening…

Michael Doyle, in The Irish Sun, reports:

“During the incident, what appeared to be a warning shot was fired and Blondie [Christopher ‘Blondie’ Stokes] was hit by a bullet in the foot from a Garda-issue Sig Sauer handgun.

Sources said an Alsatian dog attacked the cop and had to be shot in self-defence…

However…

The injured man’s uncle Ned ‘Sonny’ Stokes, who arrived on the scene minutes later, said no pooch was killed.

He told the Irish Sun: “When I got there, I met the garda and asked him what happened.

“I went over and I saw Chris after being hit in the leg.

“They have two dogs and I could see them tied up at the back, not a bother on them.”

Anyone?

TWO SIDES OF THE TAIL: Family of man wounded by armed garda in Longford say no dog was shot in incident while gardai say mutt was killed in self-defence (Michael Doyle, The Irish Sun)

Yesterday: Meanwhile in Longford

In the Limerick Leader

Fintan Walsh reports:

Gardaí will soon be able to use mobile phones to access CCTV footage, record statements and check vehicle registrations, thanks to an app the Limerick division is piloting.

Speaking after a joint policing committee meeting at City Hall, Supt Derek Smart said that the ambitious scheme is “at a very advanced stage” and is being driven by Chief Supt David Sheahan.

Another feature being considered by the gardaí is the installation of CCTV access in garda patrol vehicles.

…Explaining the app’s concept, Supt Smart told the Leader last Friday: “If I am in the patrol car I will be able to check, if I see a car in front of me, I can put the reg number into my phone and I can check it. I don’t have to ring people inside in Henry Street to check it.

“You will be able to do it out and about on the street. There will be all apps built into specific phones in regard to it. It basically replaces the notebook. But it becomes a modern tool as well. You can go back into the station, you dock your phone, you download into the system and it is recorded there.”

New garda app piloted in Limerick (Limerick Leader)

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Dara Quigley (above) Today’s Irish Sun

Campaigning journalist Dara Quigley has been identified as the woman filmed being arrested and dragged into a Garda car after walking naked in Dublin city centre.

Dara, who was battling mental health issues, took her own life within days of the video being shared on Facebook allegedly by a member of An Garda Síochána.

Stephen Breen, in The Irish Sun, reports:

A major probe is under way after a woman who was allegedly filmed by a garda as she walked naked in a busy street took her own life just days later.

The officer has been accused of using his mobile phone to record CCTV footage of her arrest in Dublin last month and then sharing it in a WhatsApp group.

The north Dublin woman had been suffering from depression and was receiving treatment for drug addiction when she was detained in the city on April 7 under the Mental Treatment Act.

It’s understood the video clip was posted to Facebook three days later by another individual — and viewed 123,000 times within a 24-hour period.

Facebook removed the clip on April 11 after being contacted by senior gardai but the woman’s body was found in the Munster area the following day.

The officer at the centre of the allegation is suspended on full pay. It’s understood he denies the allegation and any wrongdoing whatsoever.

Irish woman took own life after CCTV footage of her walking naked in the street allegedly filmed by garda and posted online (The Irish Sun)

Previously: A Rare Diamond