An Garda Síochana have said that not all calls they receive from the public ‘require an immediate Garda response’.
Gript contacted An Garda Síochana asking for comment about claims made in a Journal article that at one point last Tuesday, 523 calls received by their central control centre in Dublin were not responded to.
The Journal said that a source had told them the calls were not responded to due to there not being enough Gardaí on duty and that this is an ongoing issue.
The article claimed that, “At the end of a shift command and control then forward on to the oncoming unit any calls that were not responded to – on Tuesday evening at 7pm there were 523 held over individual incidents,”
It also said that Gardaí who make arrests are often required to question suspects themselves which “grounds” their vehicle rendering them unable to attend to other calls for help.
A Garda spokesperson told Gript that, “ An Garda Síochána does not comment on figures provided by unknown 3rd parties”
The statement continued , “All calls received at the DMR Control Room, either through the 999 system or through local Garda stations, are initially assessed and given a priority categorisation.”
“Calls remain subject to ongoing risk assessment based on additional information, if any, received in respect of any individual call.”
“Calls are prioritised for response based on initial categorisations, additional information received which may increase or reduce the prioritisation, the availability of the most suitable resource to respond to the call and the immediate need or otherwise for a Garda response.”
“Each call is unique, not every call to the DMR Regional Control Room requires an immediate Garda response.”
“There is and always will be calls on hold within the control environment.”