Gardaí used WhatsApp to discuss how to ‘bypass’ 999 emergency calls

An internal Garda review previously determined that more than 200,000 emergency calls in a 22-month period between 2019 and 2020 were not properly addressed.

The problem now concerns 19,000 additional calls. All 999 calls were canceled after the initial problem was identified.

Justice Minister Heather Humphreys first expressed concern two days ago that Gardaí continues to cancel 999 appeals.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris also confirmed that an additional 19,000 canceled appeals are currently under review.

He added that two particularly worrying incidents related to the misclassification of calls had been identified so far.

However, Mr Harris said it was too early to tell if the procedures were being frustrated or bypassed, or if the problem involved human error.

But high-level sources claim that the garda whistleblower at the center of the case has provided information – including details of how Gardaí discussed how to bypass the handling of 999 calls on a WhatsApp group – which is now a major objective of surveys.

This information from the senior officer is “very credible”, it is understood.

“This is a problem that is not going to go away. Serious problems have been identified and are now being addressed.

“There is a very senior officer who provides a lot of information of major importance,” said a source.

On October 28, the Commissioner of the Guard will be questioned in a sustained manner on the controversy during a public meeting in front of the police authority which will be broadcast live.

Minister Humphreys said she shared the law enforcement concern over the continued cancellation of 999 calls and the misclassification of others.

She stressed that she wanted to reassure the public that when they dial 999, they will get an appropriate police response.

Garda’s commissioner said he was disappointed they discovered these issues, but added that they are still trying to determine the extent and cause of the problem.

He added that not all of the calls were 999 and that part of the additional 19,000 contacts involved people calling the gardaí with information they had classified as “intelligence calls”.

This category was introduced as part of the corrective action when the issue first surfaced last November, he said, but gardaí did not expect so many appeals to fall into this category. .

They were now working on those calls, he said, and had so far found two incidents of particular concern.

He said they were disappointed and did not expect this problem to emerge, and therefore informed the police authority.

Mr Harris said gardaí handled thousands of calls every day and there would be errors due to human error – but he wanted to make sure people had confidence in the system.

He also said that the Garda investigation was continuing into the actions of some gardaí who quashed 999 appeals outside of the new proceedings that were introduced.

There may be disciplinary action, he said, but at this point it was still too early to tell.

In July, the provisional results of a Garda review of the matter found that between 400 and 500 high priority crimes – including those of domestic violence – had not been investigated by Gardaí because all 999 calls were inappropriately canceled.

The law enforcement authority then appointed Derek Penman to independently review the work of An Garda Síochána.

Mr Penman is a former Scottish Police Deputy Chief Constable. He started his work at the beginning of August.

His analysis of the annulment of the 999 appeals was due to be submitted to the Police Authority by August 30. However, this deadline has been extended and its review is ongoing.