Dáil mention for Mullingar Cyber Crime office
The role of a Mullingar office of An Garda Síochána in the detection and investigation of online crime was recently discussed in the Dáil.
The Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau (GNCCB) is part of the Organised and Serious Crime (OSC) department of An Garda Síochána and is headed by a detective chief superintendent.
The Bureau’s central office is in OSC headquarters, Walter Scott House, Military Road, Dublin, and it has regional offices in Mullingar, Cork City, Galway City, and Wexford, providing cover for cyber incidents and support to garda colleagues and their investigations.
The An Garda Síochána Cyber Crime regional offices in Mullingar give rapid-response forensics and technical support to local gardaí. They conduct forensically secure examinations of seized computers, mobile devices, and storage media as well as examining network intrusions and data breaches.
The Mullingar office can also be tasked with identifying and analysing child sexual abuse material. The role of the Mullingar bureau was discussed as the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Equality recently debated the safety and wellbeing of children online.
Angela Willis, An Garda Síochána Assistant Commissioner organised and serious crime, told the Oireachtas members that there are 85 personnel operating within the Garda National Protective Services Bureau. In addition there are 27 divisional protective services units, with at least one in every division.
“There are 300 people involved in the divisional protective services, including inspectors, sergeants and gardaí, spread right across the country,” Assistant Commissioner Willis said. “The centralised piece is the national protective services bureau.
“There are 10 people in the online child exploitation unit but that is a triage unit. The investigations are sent out to the divisional protective services units for follow-up investigation. It is important to say that while we receive lots of referrals, not all of them reach the standard that breaches criminality here.”
“A key role of the online child exploitation unit is to examine the material coming in and if it reaches the criminal bar, then it is sent out for investigation and we have the divisional protective services units that can follow up and if there is a safeguarding issue they can follow up on that.”
Roscommon Galway, Sinn Féin TD, Claire Kerrans, asked the senior garda how many victim identification teams there are in the state.
AC Willis replied: “As part of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau, we have victim identification as a product, if you like, within that and so when we are examining devices seized in the course of criminal investigations there is a particular emphasis on trying to identify victims within that.
“In the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau, we have 84 garda personnel. That includes four hubs in Wexford, Cork, Galway and Mullingar. We have plans for a hub in Dundalk later this year,” Assistant Commissioner Willis told the committee.