Several instances of ‘substantial shortcomings’ were discovered in a new report into the cancellation of thousands of 999 calls by Gardaí.
The Policing Authority paper discovered several inconsistencies within the four regional control rooms, which led to the ‘potential for serious harm to victims’ who were calling the emergency number.
This report by Derek Penman sampled of 210 cancelled 999 calls and found ‘several instances of substantial shortcomings’ in call handling.
It says that ‘though there was the potential for serious harm to victims due to these shortcomings, no actual harm was identified’ from this particular sample.
The found ‘very little evidence’ checks by supervisors and said that in some cases, it found the call receiver failed to accurately record the information of the person on the line, which led to Gardaí being dispatched to the wrong location and unable to recontact the caller.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris will attend a meeting this afternoon, to discuss the findings of this report.
