Guardai are doing their job ? Dublin is NOT a safe city

Club_Med

Are Gardai doing their job ?
More and more stories are told about guys robbed, bitten, etc by bands of knackers. This is not happening in the suburbs of the city, but along the Quays, in Dame Street, in Temple bar, etc. This needs to be stopped know !! On the weekend I see Gardai taking photos with English tourists, walking calmly in Temple Bar Square, while maybe someone 300mt away is bitten to death by a bunch of animals. Can I be scared to walk on the streets of Dublin City Centre ? Something needs to be done, Gardai Service is not working as it should be.

Last night again: an Italian guy was walking along the Quays passed the Four Courts. He got stopped by a group of knackers, they stolen his possessions and still not happy they cut is face and arms with a knife. This at 500mt from temple Bar.

I am scared to walk alone in the Dublin Streets.

MDR

A better question would be,

'Is our justice system doing its job'

Its not simply a Garda problem, the system is completely f**ked from start to finish. There is absolutely not deterent no to commit crime anymore ...

Wook

One could question the justice system indeed if you hear about guy's being released from prison after 6 months and having a earlier conviction list of 70Plus.

MDR

he is probabily laughing at the Garda everytime they pick him up ... seemingily 70 times already ....

hows that for support in your job .

The Corinthian

Originally posted by MDR
'Is our justice system doing its job'

True, but the Gardai are not blameless either.

If you don't believe me, try popping into a Garda station after 10pm and count how many gardai are there; hanging around getting overtime rather than on the street. From what I've been told, by gardai, this attitude of maximising overtime in the station or the court is as endemic to the culture of the job as nepotism is.

MDR

try popping into a Garda station after 10pm

been in a Garda station plenty of times after 10 usually delivering lunch

hanging around getting overtime rather than on the street.

They do tend to hug the station, they want to go out in cars and there is never enough cars, they don't want to go out in the rain etc, yeah sure I know what your saying, it has always struck me as part of the problem and has always bugged me, they definitely need a culture change. I can't see this happening while they remain a political football ...

To go even further the whole civil service has inefficiencies like this, but ultimately only form a small part of the problem faced by our justice system. People after all are being arrested, but they aren't being punished ....

Also there is no overtime to be had at the minute, and their hasn't been for quite some time.

the culture of the job as nepotism is.

The children of Garda are more likely to apply for the Garda than most people is this nepotism if they go through an impartial application procedure. You would be better advised to attack the culture of promoting incompetence in the Garda or promoting members of the GAA ....

bloggs

It's hardly the Gardas fault if you arrest someone and then the scumbag is given a suspended sentence or let go all together. We need a more punishable justice system. I think more community service would be better, where scumbags had to pick up litter and paint over graffiti, and if that didn't work you could always use the Saudi Arabian approach (cut off their hands), hey you can't disagree with results (bit hard to knick cars with no hands)

bloggs

I have always wondered why people aren't made pay for the damage they cause. LIke if a little scumbag steals your car, and damages it. They should be made pay for that damage, (taken directly out of their wages or dole), that would teach them!

gom

The Garda's are not guardians of the people. They are Ex-Blue shirts...

But I have noticed the attitude of some specialist sections of the Gardai. Namely the Customs and Excess and the guys on the Mountian Bikes in town...
Both catagories are highly motivated and in my opinion the type of police we need.
Irish Cities need a new type of police. Not more gardai. Gardai in dublin are useless. There purpose is directions, speed fines, harrassing those they can get away with and standing around in a nice flash (don't roll over me -- I'm on a tea brake) waist coat..

Irish Cities need Metropolitian style police forces. I use the word Police as it sounds more professional and modern the the auld gardai. We need storm troopers like they have in Paris(guys in jump suits with p90 and big german shepherds)...

Thats my 2 cents on the gardai...

But to be honest the problem is more to do with the governments social policy. Or lack there of.
There is no point in just going out and Fighting Crime because ultamitly by imprisoning half the nation you will create alot of crime also... How may people other than our Lucan Friend Liam come out of Mount Joy without a Heroine addiction???

Racism is a serious problem that isn't been taken serious by anyone in this country. The governments actions toward immigrants and asylem seekers helps create more racism.
Why the hell haven't we got a decent system of immigration into this country. The government shoud vacilitate more people to come work, live and stay here.
Hell Sinn Fein should be up on their high horse and shout out the wisdom of Arthur Griffit about why we need a bigger population(denser more so)...
back on topic and no sinn fein bashing

Attitudes need to change.
Those skangers will still be attacking people if there is more gardai. If they got caught the victim is still a victim...

gom

Originally posted by bloggs
I have always wondered why people aren't made pay for the damage they cause. LIke if a little scumbag steals your car, and damages it. They should be made pay for that damage, (taken directly out of their wages or dole), that would teach them!

Like Germany after WW1

Not a good idea :rolleyes:

MDR

I have always wondered why people aren't made pay for the damage they cause. LIke if a little scumbag steals your car, and damages it. They should be made pay for that damage, (taken directly out of their wages or dole), that would teach them!

Oh they are fined, but then claim they can't pay the fine, the ignore the court demands etc, after all there is no space in prisons for people who haven't paid their fines, after two years they slip through the cracks in the system and the fine is forgotten about.

Nevyn

Most of the garda that are hanging around are trying to get thought the mass over paperwork that needs to be cleared. 1 arrest can result in 3 to 8 hours paperwork.

Charge sheets are large unwieldy triplicate forms that still in most places have to be wedged into a typewriter too short for them and 1 mistake on a charge sheet and there is no hope of a court date.

Yes going to court occurs a lot in off duty and overtime because most stations cant spare garda to attend court otherwise, and there are prisoner escort duties that the garda get called in for as well and with the lacto of sufficient female guards it is easy to have to work 4 days on duty, 1 day for paperwork, 1 day in court as the dates change and then get called in for transport duty as they need a female there.

So with a work load like that who the hell wants to get the abuse of scumbags?

Yes the whole ' no go ' areas should be stopped but unfortunately is not that simple; and it is not just the garda who don’t want to know Dublin is quickly becoming like London or cities in the usa where it is see no evil hear no evil and no one will go to anyone’s aid even to stop and shout at the scumbags and ring the police when they see it happening.

Club_Med

Fine ?
OK. I catch you doing a crime, once, twice, etc..
No fines have been paid and you still do crimes. OK, now i brake your legs. As easy as that. You make them understand they do not rule the city and if you can not redime them in the good way.....

The Corinthian

Originally posted by MDR
You would be better advised to attack the culture of promoting incompetence in the Garda or promoting members of the GAA ....

Sorry, I wasn't being clear - that's what I meant (apart from the GAA connection - I'd never heard of that before).

vasch_ro

just would like to clear a few points here
firstly charge sheets are no longer manually typed as they had been done for years I am reliably informed that they are all produced from the Police It system known as PULSE (incidently done in conjuction with anderson consulting and also the biggest single investment ever by the state in an It project)

now I have no doubt that ther are many lazy buggers that hang around the station drinking tea as my friends have told me that there are a few reluctant to go out on the beat
but also if they arrest anyone it all must be logged on PULSE I believe it currently takes anywhere from 25mins to 1 hour just to get the charge sheet to print off the system
thus when you go after 10pm they simply could be waiting for the charge sheets to print. Also I know in some of the busier stations in town a number have to stay in doors to look at the camera's and to deal with the sheer volume of people that are being arrested what I am saying is lets not all paint them wi the same brush surely we all know lazy people at work school home etc ?

As regards dublin being a safe city I feel myself it is not as safe as it used to be , but I have to ask myself how people walked by that Italian mentioned in one of the earlier posts did any one even phone the police ? I got badly duffed up one night in Grafton street when I was younger and no one even asked me was I allright that was at least 10 yrs ago and I got duffed up for my T Shirt which was stolen off my back ( I 'm deadly serious) by the way this was about 10pm and loads of people just walked by as I lay on the ground opposite HMV
I think we as a society have to ask ourselves a lot of questions

Customs and Excise are part of customs and Excise they are not Police as such and do not fall under there umbrella

Personally the last time I was in Temple bar 25/06/03 to be precise I saw a number of differnet police pass by the window of the establishment I was visiting some on foot some on bikes and some in cars I was actually quite surprised at the presence of so many
But I guess if there is a lack of people on the streets it is a mangement problem and a reflection of poor mangement of people on the ground by people who may well be out of touch with problems in the city .
My two european cents worth!!

Boston

Originally posted by gom
The Garda's are not guardians of the people. They are Ex-Blue shirts...

But I have noticed the attitude of some specialist sections of the Gardai. Namely the Customs and Excess and the guys on the Mountian Bikes in town...

Customs and Excess is a branch of the revenue comissioneers and always have been. sames people work for both.

MDR

As regards Dublin being a safe city I feel myself it is not as safe as it used to be , but I have to ask myself how people walked by that Italian mentioned in one of the earlier posts did any one even phone the police

When blaming the police, the govt and the judiciary should we also be looking at ourselves. As a race how interested are we in our neighbour and our community ? from the evidence I have seen over the past few years, our own social interest is lacking.

Take as a weird for instance, completely OTT

I went away on business the Sunday before last to Birmingham and didn't come back until Friday evening. When I arrived back home (my parents home, not strictly speaking mine anymore) in Dublin there was a cardboard box sitting in the middle of the road and litter all over the place.

I threw put my bag in the house, paid the taxi man, rolled up my sleeves and cleared it all up. Later I asked my mum where all the litter had come from, and she explained that the 'evil godless oriental immigrants' renting the house across the street left it out with their wheelie bin on Monday, but the bin-men didn't pick it up, so they just left it there, eventually it ended up all over the road and then went on complain how dirty they where. Now lets ignore what the bin-men/oriental people should have done.

So all the residents who live next door to these people, my neighbours of donkeys years walked past this rubbish day after day, in their own community, on their own street, watched and 'tut tut'ed as the situation got worse and worse, and kept their hands firmly in their pockets. It never occurred to anyone that was their home, their neighbourhood and it won't take a god-damned moment to put that rubbish in their own bin.

This is Irish society, we have no sense of community, we have no sense of the greater family, it all stops at our hall door, we are not a great race, what do we celebrate on St Patrick's ? and we complain about the Garda not doing their job, how about we do our jobs as citizens .... :mad:

Boston

Originally posted by MDR
This is Irish society, we have no sense of community, we have no sense of the greater family, it all stops at our hall door, we are not a great race, what do we celebrate on St Patrick's ? and we complain about the Garda not doing their job, how about we do our jobs as citizens .... :mad:

first off why should you pick up after some one else, why didn't you just report it. second in certain areas theres a great community, others theres none. As people get richer, they depend less and less on their neighbours

MDR

first off why should you pick up after some one else,

because its my home and I want it to be a nice place to live.

why didn't you just report it.

Would that salve my social consious, by the time I figured out who to call and made the call it would have been already picked up.

Guardai are doing their job ? Dublin is NOT a safe city

On a base line, what city is completely safe? The Gardai are doing a job that nobody else wants, and everyone else despises them for it. Considering that there are more scum in cities than gardai, i personally feel they're doing a fairly decent job. No worse than the Bobby's in London, or the other Gardai in Galway.

Every city is dangerous.

Just a side question, not to divert the discussion, but do you feel that you're doing enough to help the Gardai in their Job? Since you live in the city and are responsible for it also.....

gurramok

On a base line, what city is completely safe? The Gardai are doing a job that nobody else wants, and everyone else despises them for it. Considering that there are more scum in cities than gardai, i personally feel they're doing a fairly decent job. No worse than the Bobby's in London, or the other Gardai in Galway.

Have to disagree with you there.
No city/town/village is completely safe, its the level of threat thats higher in dublin than ever before.

A few parts of this city are no-go areas, its a fact.
Gardai choose to become gardai, nobody forced them into the good-paying job.
Gardai performance i believe is based on what are you live in. Where I live, there have been constant anti-social behaviour of all sorts since i was a kid.
Nothing was done by gardai/gov. to stamp out consistent problems that are passed on from one generation of kids to another.

Just a side question, not to divert the discussion, but do you feel that you're doing enough to help the Gardai in their Job? Since you live in the city and are responsible for it also.....

I have tried to help, ringing the gardai is a waste of time.
All you get is that a squad car will be out in 10 min, more like an hour if they come.
On one occasion i have rang the gardai 14 times in one day from 1pm to 7pm asking for their help in stopping the stolen cars getting burnt in a field near me, this was a halloween day.
When they did come, they had to come in big numbers as they had let the situation run out of control for that long !!
That field is now a building site, the joyriding has been moved on to be another area's problem.
If any trouble happens I am witness to, I hardly ring them anymore as its pointless...unless its personal where I would have to ring if i'm still alive

gom

Originally posted by gurramok

more like an hour if they come.

Your lucky so. I called the Gardas after I was assaulted by 10 skangers right around the corner from my house.
The gardas arrived 2 weeks later to my door.
I got furious and made a complaint instead.
But that was before the Gardai INspectorite or Complaint boards... Nothing was done.

We need an Ombudsman

If that fails
Privatise the Gardai and introduce competition into the justice system

Nothing was done by gardai/gov. to stamp out consistent problems that are passed on from one generation of kids to another.

TBH, I blame the governments of the past and the present for such a thing. The Gardai are forced to operate under guidelines laid down by them, which restrict just how effective the Gardai can be.

A few parts of this city are no-go areas, its a fact

I agree. When i lived in Dublin, three years ago, i knew the areas to avoid. Just as i knew in my home town, that there were certain areas that we dangerous for citizen & Gardai alike. These are older problems, alot of which fall upon the past governments policies towards travellers, Immigrants, and general lower class families. I don't see it as being something that was caused by the Gardai. ( I could certainly be wrong, of course. )

I repect the Gardai for what i've seen them do. I'm originally from Athlone, where both Gangs and Drugs have had a major impact for the last 15 years. The Gardai have limitated both. The Gangs were run down, and the drugs have been put back into the shadows ( what i mean by this is, that its no longer sold on the street corner)

If any trouble happens I am witness to, I hardly ring them anymore as its pointless...unless its personal where I would have to ring if i'm still alive

I understand what you're saying. I'm not excluding the Gardai for blame. I'm saying that everything lies at their feet. There's always going to be room for improvement. And admittedly the Gardai do have a number of areas which need to be improved. On the other hand though, the areas that need improvement are mostly out of the direct control of the Gardai. Look to the Governemnt to make these changes....

Club_Med

On a base line, what city is completely safe? The Gardai are doing a job that nobody else wants, and everyone else despises them for it. Considering that there are more scum in cities than gardai, i personally feel they're doing a fairly decent job. No worse than the Bobby's in London, or the other Gardai in Galway.

it is not a matter of base line. All cities can be dangerous and scumbags are everywhere. In my home town (Milan) we have areas to avoid, off-limits, in the subburbs. But man, not right in the centre of the city. This is the area to protect firstly. where turists are, yung people goes out at night, ladies, etc.
The "City Centre" is the image of a city and the first place in a town to keep safe and free from knackers. Thats it.

Help the Guardai in their jobs ?? YES !! I dont do crimes and when I see one committed I report it. What else should I do, dress up with a funny-jellow jumper too ?

napalm@night

stop crime?simple barcode everyone from birth with gps tracking and the like that would solve crime before it starts but then you all scream big brother state etc dont you....will if you do nothing wrong then you have nothing to hide to do...some people in this country cant even keep control of there 2 yr old so how can we expect the gardai to just magically stop crime...at the minute we have a mainly reactive police force what we need to do is change that to a force that prevents crime before it happens and something along the lines of barcoding with for defo be a good start to preventing crime in dis city and country!