Nicholas Keogh accuses superintendent over crime figures

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Garda Nicholas Keogh accused a superintendent of downgrading crime figures and trying to discredit him by undermining his work. The proceedings at the Disclosures Tribunal were reported on 16 October 2019. His allegations concerned an Athlone robbery and criticisms of four investigations.

Keogh said the robbery was downgraded on the Pulse system from a recorded robbery to “attention and complaints”. Diarmaid McGuinness SC, for the tribunal, put it to Keogh that the investigation was reclassified because the injured party was not pursuing it and that Superintendent Patrick Murray felt it was the right thing to do.

Murray disputed the accusation and said his queries were intended to ensure the investigation met a high standard. When tribunal chair Mr Justice Seán Ryan suggested that Keogh might be alleging the “fiddling” of crime figures, Keogh said: “I’m not alleging corruption.”