Whistleblower Garda analyst says she was ‘stalked’ by ‘volatile, emotionally unstable’ senior official
Whistleblower Garda analyst says she was ‘stalked’ by ‘volatile, emotionally unstable’ senior official
Civilian deputy head of An Garda Síochána Analysis Service says senior Garda officer did not support her when exposed to harassment
An analyst who exposed serious fraud and deception with An Garda Síochána’s homicide data has claimed at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) that a senior officer failed to support her when she was exposed to sexual harassment and bullying.
Lois West, the civilian deputy head of An Garda Síochána Analysis Service (GSAS), said she felt she was “virtually being stalked” by a “volatile” and “emotionally unstable” senior official at Garda headquarters, who she said claimed he had “shot dead 27 people”.
She said the man would “orchestrate” opportunities to be alone with her and told her how “multiple previous partners had met some end, some sticky end”.
Ms West, who is on long term sick leave from her role with GSAS, was giving evidence on her complaints under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014; the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005; and the Payment of Wages Act 1991, on a second day of her WRC hearing on Tuesday.
Her case is that she faced bullying, harassment and sexual harassment, and had her career held back and her pay cut while on sick leave, since she testified to the Oireachtas on errors in official homicide data in 2018.
[ Garda homicide data whistleblower made to feel ‘like silly little girl’ by officers, WRC told ]
She said Assistant Commissioner Michael O’Sullivan’s response in writing to her concerns about the senior official made her feel as if he “does not care about me, he is not doing anything to protect me or help me”.
The letter questioned her authority for revoking the senior official’s swipe card and said he would require a new one, as he would be returning to Garda headquarters after a period of leave, Ms West said.
“I broke down,” she said. “On the one hand I was being told I was effectively the head of GSAS, on the other I was unable to protect my staff... I didn’t feel safe, I didn’t feel my team was safe; I felt I’d no choice but to go on sick leave.”
After later being informed that the senior official was no longer with the force, Ms West returned to work. However, she said she then learned a colleague was being promoted to principal officer grade, one level above her, with “no competition”.
Ms West said she had to take sick leave again in November 2020 because of a dermatitis condition her GP attributed to workplace stress.
She told the WRC she managed to return to work for one day in February 2021, when a new manager who had taken over responsibility for GSAS, Garda chief information officer Andrew O’Sullivan, told her to drop out of a training course, that she would no longer be managing a team, and that she would only be allowed to work on “one project, chosen by him” and was not to “expand out into other work”.
She said she resumed her sick leave the following day.
“I believe I have reached a glass ceiling in An Garda Síochána to the point where my ethical actions are being held against me [and] my career is being stymied,” she wrote in one letter to management.
Ms West said she felt she was being “set up to fail” because it was announced that a vacancy for a principal officer post in GSAS she hoped to get was to be filled by open competition, though she had been previously informed it would be an internal process.
[ Garda civilian analysts ‘belittled and treated poorly’ over homicide figures ]
The tribunal heard Ms West remains on sick leave from her post to this day and was placed on half pay from March 2021 before being reduced to no pay from December 2022.
Ms West said she had received no follow-up from the force since a letter to her solicitors in which the force responded to the findings of the investigation report examining her complaints about the senior official in June 2022.
“I’m broken, I’m absolutely broken, because I’ve lost my career,” she said.
The case continues.
https://justiceforallthepeopleofireland.blogspot.com/2023/12/more-whistleblowers-destroyed-in-gardai.html
https://justiceforallthepeopleofireland.blogspot.com/2022/09/innocentpeople-framed-by-gardai-dpp.html
https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2024/03/05/analyst-claims-senior-garda-officer-did-not-support-her-when-exposed-to-harassment/
Garda whistleblower absent from hearing after taking ill ‘amid stress of proceedings’
Lois West has migraines, cold sores and difficulty sleeping due to anxiety related to her experience, psychiatrist said
https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2024/03/07/garda-whistleblower-absent-from-hearing-after-taking-ill-amid-stress-of-proceedings/
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) continued its hearing into claims by Garda whistleblower Lois West on Thursday afternoon in her absence after hearing that she had taken ill.
Ms West had already left the hearing room when her legal team told the tribunal they were unable to take instruction because their client was unwell as a result of the stress of the proceedings.
“Her husband expressed very serious concerns about his wife,” said her barrister, David Byrnes.
“I am sorry to hear she’s not feeling well about this matter. She is forefront in my mind in this case,” said adjudicator Roger McGrath.
Earlier, Ms West’s barrister said his client had learned only late on Wednesday evening while a senior Garda executive was testifying to the WRC that her role in the force’s analytics service was “gone”.
“To find out yesterday that that deputy role has been gone a year and a half, two years, what would you say?” counsel for Lois West asked her treating psychiatrist today.
“I think that must be shocking,” witness Dr Elizabeth Cryan said.
Ms West has complained under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the Payment of Wages Act 1991 against the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána, the Government and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.
Ms West, who was deputy head of the Garda Siochana Analysis Service (GSAS) at assistant principal grade prior to taking extended sick leave, says her career has been “stymied” since she testified to the Oireachtas about errors in the recording of official homicide data six years ago and that the force mishandled her complaint about bullying and sexual harassment by a senior official in Garda Headquarters.
Today marks six years to the day since Ms West and her colleague Laura Galligan testified to the Oireachtas about errors in Garda homicide data.
Earlier Ms West’s treating consultant psychiatrist, Dr Elizabeth Cryan, gave evidence that Ms West had “a severe adjustment disorder”.
The complainant “would meet the criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD” except that there was no direct exposure to death, serious injury or sexual violence – the alleged sexual harassment Ms West had referred to falling short of that diagnostic standard, she said.
Ms West’s physical symptoms were linked to “a high level of stress and anxiety”, including tooth grinding, “very severe” migraines, cold sores, perioral dermatitis, muscle tension and sleeping difficulties, she said.
Asked by Mr Byrnes about Ms West’s ability to “think rationally” and be “reasoned” with about what she perceived, Dr Cryan said Ms West was “completely rational, completely clear, an excellent detailed historian in relation to all aspects”.
On Thursday morning, Ms West’s GSAS colleague Laura Galligan, who testified to the Oireachtas with Ms West on errors in Garda homicide data, said she “naively thought you might be commended for identifying something, but it was the complete opposite”.
Ms Galligan explained that she had identified issues with 41 cases after comparing the files of the Chief State Pathologist, where she had worked as a senior scientist, to Garda Pulse records. She said she had her methodology called “inherently weak” and “flawed” in a report to the Policing Authority into which neither she nor Ms West had any input.
She said the attitude shown by sworn members of the force working with civilian analysts on the issue was: “Run along, there’s nothing to see here.”
“It was very belittling behaviour, very intimidating,” she said.
Proceedings at the WRC on Thursday continued into the late evening for the second time this week.
GARDA WHISTLEBLOWER SAID OFFICIAL AT GARDA HQ CLAIMED HE SHOT DEAD 27 PEOPLE
https://www.pressreader.com/ireland/irish-independent/20240306/281638195163312
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