Kathleen O'Toole
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Kathleen M. O'Toole is the Chief Inspector of the Garda Inspectorate, set up to audit Ireland's national police force, the Garda Síochána and report to Ireland's Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform on changes to improve efficiency in line with best international practice.
She was the first female police commissioner of Boston, Massachusetts when appointed by the Mayor of Boston. She was appointed by mayor Thomas M. Menino in February 2004. On 9 May 2006, O'Toole officially announced that she was leaving the Boston Police Department to move to Ireland.
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[edit] Upbringing
She was born in 1954 and grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts. She graduated from Boston College with a B.A. in 1976 and from New England School of Law with a JD in 1982.
[edit] Career
Her career includes service as Lieutenant Colonel of Massachusetts State Police from 1992 to 1994; she was appointed to the cabinet positon of Secretary, Executive Office of Public Safety in Massachusetts, by Governor Weld in 1994 and served in this position until 1998. She then became a member of the Patten Commission headed by Lord Patten of Barnes which reformed policing in Northern Ireland and led to the formation of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
[edit] Snelgrove Controversy
While serving as Commissioner of the Boston Police, O'Toole was a central figure in the controvesy surrounding the fatal shooting of Victoria Snelgrove during the celebrations of the 2004 Boston Red Sox victory over the rival New York Yankees, in which riot police fired a "less lethal" pepper spray round, which missed its intended target and struck Ms Snelgrove in the eye, entering her brain and killing her. While Commissioner O'Toole demoted one superintendent and suspended two officers involved in the incident, no prosecution or dismissal was brought against any officer in the case.
[edit] Ireland
The Garda Inspectorate, which will have three members, will examine operational, investigative, managerial and policing strategies to ensure that these meet best practice.Her role within the Garda will be to clean up the current spate of scandal in the Gardai. The Morris Tribunal pronounced that it was "staggered" by the level of indiscipline and insubordination in the force [2] and the Irish Government is to respond with a revised code of discipline.
[edit] Family
She is married to Dan O'Toole, now a retired Boston police officer. They have one daughter, Meghan, who received her masters from National University of Ireland, Galway.
O'Toole was part of the international commission that drew up the Patten Report on policing reform in the North.
[edit] Notes
^ Crowd Control that can Kill Retrieved April 3, 2007
