GSOC notified AGS of 1,337 admissible complaints made by members of the public against Gardaí.
A total of 761 of these were forwarded by GSOC to the Garda Commissioner for investigation.
And 1,183 new personnel joined an Garda Siochana in 2018 and 12,717 trained up in the Code of Ethics by year-end, according to the organisation’s annual report.
Total force is 14,300
The total force is 14,300 Garda members supported by over 2,900 civilian staff.
A total 64 victims of human trafficking were identified, representing a 25% increase in the total number of victims of human trafficking identified from 2017 to 2018.
A total of 258 gardai returned to the frontline from administration duties and 416 firearms were seized along with €28m worth of drugs seized.
Fall in burglaries
There was an 11% fall in reported burglaries and justice minister Charlie Flanagan said that 2018 was a ‘pivotal year’ for An Garda Síochána.
However, ‘challenges’ in relation to accommodation, training capacity, skilled resources and new ICT systems contributed to some Policing Plan targets being only partially achieved, or not achieved at all, in 2018.
New divisional headquarters in Galway and Kevin Street, Dublin, opened in 2018, as part of the ongoing Garda Building and Refurbishment Programme.
Unprecedented
A record €1.76 billion was allocated to AGS 2019 and this will increase further to an unprecedented €1.882 billion for the year ahead.
Significant capital investment is also being made, amounting to a total of €92 million in 2019 will rise to over €116 million in 2020.
This includes investment of €342 million in Garda ICT infrastructure between 2016 and 2021.
Anti-corruption unit
The Garda Anti-Corruption Unit confidential reporting line, which opened in September 2018, took 33 calls in its first three months of operation, in relation to bribery and corruption.
The Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau (GNCCB) dealt with assistance requests for 248 child pornography enquiries.
The GNCCB cyber-crime case backlog stands at 493 cases.
The Extradition Unit returned 62 fugitives to other jurisdictions, including individuals wanted for drug and murder offences in the UK and US.
Weekend crime prevention
The National Public Order Unit (NPOU) assisted in weekend crime prevention hi-visibility patrols in parts of Dublin city centre where there is a frequency of public order incidents.
The terrorist threat level of ‘moderate’ remained unchanged from 2017, indicating "an attack is possible but not likely."
The project to connect Ireland to Schengen Information System phase two is expected in Q1 2020.
Longest trial
Twelve people were convicted before the Special Criminal Court for terrorist-related activities, including the longest trial in the history of the court where three people were convicted of IRA membership.
This trial also saw the first convictions in the history of the State for the offence of knowingly assisting the activities of the IRA.
The National Negotiation Unit dealt with a record 98 hostage/barricade/suicide (HBS) type incidents, with 60% of the incidents relating to mental health matters.
Youth diversion
Under the Youth Diversion Programme, 2,000 individuals and over 900 individual organisations who were victims of crime did not see their cases progressed.
Each of the victims are receiving an apology from AGS, with the matter of accountability of serving Garda members being examined by Divisional Officers on a case-by-case basis.
149 road fatalities
And 149 people lost their lives on Irish roads, representing a 4% decrease on the previous year's figure and the lowest road fatality figure since records began.
However, the target for a maximum of 132 deaths as identified in the Policing Plan was not met.
Further work needs to be done to meet the 2013-2020 Government Road Safety strategy target of a maximum of 124 road deaths per annum.