The Crime Investigation (2014) inspection found that some property stores were overflowing, no clear system existed for finding individual items, and in some stations exhibits and other property were found in offices and lockers. It also identified that the staffing model for property management was an inconsistent mix of garda members and garda staff. In the view of the Inspectorate, this role did not require the use of sworn members. At the time of that inspection, the Garda Síochána was in the process of rolling out a Property and Exhibits Management System (PEMS). This was not a national property management IT system and consisted of local standalone databases operating independently from other PEMS stores, the Garda National Technical Bureau (GNTB) and Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) systems. The Inspectorate concluded that the Garda Síochána should develop an electronic system that tracks exhibits from crime scenes to laboratories for analysis and be capable of integration with other garda and key partner agency IT systems.

A Post Implementation Review (PIR) is conducted to verify if a recommendation made in an Inspectorate report has been fully implemented, and if so, whether it is achieving the intended outcome(s). To expedite the review, a decision was taken to focus on the policies, procedures and practices within the Garda Síochána for managing property and exhibits with specific reference to drugs evidence. The terms of reference for this review are set out in report Appendix A. Following an internal assessment process, Recommendation 9.16 was selected for a PIR. It focused on four of the six actions which included the implementation of an integrated IT property management system and rollout across all divisions, the development of a national drug register and the nomination of members with responsibility for managing forensic samples. This review makes a further 8 recommendations.