Searched.....

Gary ITR

Tonight I parked my car in the statoil at the Square shopping centre, before I got out of my car I was sending a text when a kid (14-15ish) knocked on the window asking for money for petrol for his car. Told him I had no money on me, I didn't even open the window. Up pulls an unmarked Garda car the kid just walks off without anything being said to him. The Guard knocked on my window and flashed his badge so i opened the door but when i opened the driver door the rest of the doors unlocked and guard no.2 opens the back door and starts rifling through my stuff on the back seat while the other guy searches me. All the while I was complaining saying that they had no right to do this. A third guard got out of the car (think he was checking my reg on the radio) he told me they were searching me under section 23 of the misuse of drugs act and that they had every right to do so under this act. When it was all over they tried to laugh it off, just doing their job bla bla bla and they said I was only annoyed because I wasn't used to this kind of thing because I was one of the 'good guys'.

And before anybody says it, I don't look like a scummer and I have a bog standard Golf that doesn't even have alloys never mind go faster stripes or loud exhaust.

I'd love to lodge a complaint but who'd listen? Nobody...

Ah sure feck it... /Rant over:)

neon_glows

Thats fairly crap lad, disgracefull if anything. Id love to see them feckers get a right kick up the hole for doing that, its not right like, surely they'd need a warrant to search your belongings,

i tuaght when i was younger and new a few ganja smoking people the story was if you got stopped and asked to be searched you could refuse, then the garda would either have to say grand and walk of or detain you under suspicion of what ever and haul your ass to the garda station and for that they'd probably have to have justy cause.

Karoma

It's legal.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZA18Y1984S12.html

The alternative, as you stated is to be hauled down to the station where your posessions are emptied out and checked over anyway...so ... *boggle*

OP: were they in a position to see your window and whether it was rolled down?
The little scumbag was most likely known to them.

Gary ITR

The worst part is that when they left and I went over to where I was going, the kids started messing around with my car so I had to just go back to the car and move it elsewhere

Gary ITR

Karoma wrote:

OP: were they in a position to see your window and whether it was rolled down?

Yes, and when I pointed this out to them one of them he said he knew

R0ot

tbh this is a regular occurance where im from, garda abusing their power this shameful to see, im glad ive only been on the recieving end of this kind of crap once

blu_sonic

Something similar happened to me, I was out for a run and i had my water with me (like one of those containers you get on a bike) i got pulled as they thought it was booze, but they were all smiles afterward. I didn't mnd too much though.

I was also searched while walking back from the off sales with a few cans, years ago.

Karoma

Onkle51 wrote:

Yes, and when I pointed this out to them one of them he said he knew

*shrug*
They either think that drugs/other-stuff can pass through solid objects.. Or they figured you were the Boss and had spotted 'em.

I'd say the kid knew it'd happen and just wanted to wind you up.

Gary ITR

There was actually three kids, asking for money for their van that had run out of diesel...

neon_glows

is there any redress you can apply for, i think you wouldnt be in the wrong by writing a letter of complaint to your local garda commisioner or who ever.

failsafe

Onkle51 wrote:

There was actually three kids, asking for money for their van that had run out of diesel...

.... and a light for their smokes no doubt :rolleyes:

Fajitas!

To be honest, would you prefer if the gardai didn't do anything? At all?

People always give out about being searched, but to be fair, just because you're not up to anything, dosn't mean the next person in a bog standard Golf isn't. They're not to know your not involved in anything your not supposed to be, without looking. And at least they were able to say you are one of the 'good guys'.

I know I'll most likely get slated for this post, but meh. They have a job to do.

Beer is Life

Fajitas! wrote:

To be honest, would you prefer if the gardai didn't do anything? At all?

People always give out about being searched, but to be fair, just because you're not up to anything, dosn't mean the next person in a bog standard Golf isn't. They're not to know your not involved in anything your not supposed to be, without looking. And at least they were able to say you are one of the 'good guys'.

I know I'll most likely get slated for this post, but meh. They have a job to do.

Dont worry man, I fully agree with what you say

nuttz

Was there any damage to your car?

I'm all in favour of this, at least it shows the Gardaí are trying. The scum need to be taken off the street, and if the Gardaí make a mistake once in a while at least it will benefit the majority if it means they get the drugs/dealers off the streets. ???

Fajitas!

Thanks Beer Is Life.

Looking back on your first post actually, if you think about it. A car pulls up in a Tesco car park at night. They see someone walk over to the window and walk off. They mightn't have seen you didnt open the window. They had every reason to search you like. That would be REALLY suspicious in my eyes.

MrJoeSoap

R0ot wrote:

tbh this is a regular occurance where im from, garda abusing their power this shameful to see, im glad ive only been on the recieving end of this kind of crap once

You'd call this "Abuse of Power"? FFS. :mad:

homah_7ft

I think the Gardai involved should have gone about it more professionally. Yes they do have to search people who could very well be innocent we all accept that. I wonder though did they have to all enter the OP's car like that? Could they not have took the time to say something like "Hi we are really sorry about this but we need to just make sure that you haven't got anything here because there has been a lot of drug deals going on here." Instead they all just jump in and search. I am sure I am not the only one who would feel intimated and embarrassed if they did it in a manner as the the OP described. Whereas if they asked first whether would mind I would feel more than obliged.

kc66

Good to hear the Guards are keeping a good eye out for dodgy goings-on.
There will be another post up soon complaining they are doing nothing. I think there is too much Guard-bashing on boards.ie. Perhaps sometimes justified but often not.

homah_7ft

kc66 wrote:

Good to hear the Guards are keeping a good eye out for dodgy goings-on.
There will be another post up soon complaining they are doing nothing. I think there is too much Guard-bashing on boards.ie. Perhaps sometimes justified but often not.

Haha yes that's another case wrapped up.

Head The Wall

Sounds to me they were just looking for the easy arrest, why didn't they collar the young buck also if they suspected something. As said they probably knew who he was and it'd be a waste of time adding to his already probably long record.

The Sweeper

Right. So from the Gardai's point of view, you park your car, you don't get out of it immediatley to go and do anything, and umprompted a kid walks over and knocks on your window.

Yes it's not nice to have run-ins with the police and nope you did nothing wrong. But still, if I was a Garda I'd probably have pegged you for a search as well, purely based on the thrity-second snippet of the situation I was party to.

The fact that you don't think you look dodgy really has nothing to do with it.

blu_sonic

More power to the old bill for doing it, what if you were a dealer? that would have been 1 mre off the streets, its unfortunate that this has to happen in this day and age but it does.

You did say they were nice to you afterwards so its not like its a personal attack on you nor are they harrassing you on a day to day basis, for the police to work effectivly we need to expect that these things will happen.

The never beat you nor took anything from you, you'd nothing to hide and was indicated in the end.

homah_7ft

blu_sonic wrote:

The [sic] never beat you ...

By the sounds of what's coming out in Donegal it does seem as if you got off lightly.

Femelade

i dont see what the big problem is, they searched your car because they saw a dodgy looking young fella going up to you and thought you might have sold him drugs! so what!! they have to do it, if they didnt , how would anyone get caught?

And just because you have a car without, alloys and go faster stripes, it doesnt mean that you are not doing drugs...

get over it tbh.

homah_7ft

What if the same guy called to your house?

Oriel

Onkle51 wrote:

The worst part is that when they left and I went over to mt girlfriends apatment the kids started messing around with my car so I had to just go back to the car and move it elsewhere

What were they doing to it?

rubadub

This is one of the many reasons you should always carry a bag of excrement in the car. Let the bastards paw through the sweetcorn laiden bag with their bare hands.

Gary ITR

I accept that the guards were just doing a job. It was the way they went about it that got to me, and the fact that when they left the three little scroats were left to continue asking people for money and interfering with cars

rondeco

rubadub wrote:

This is one of the many reasons you should always carry a bag of excrement in the car. Let the bastards paw through the sweetcorn laiden bag with their bare hands.

Hands up those who've had a run in with the fuzz!!:D

Roddy23

I'd say fairplay to the Guards in this situation, but only if they showed consistency right across the board. On any given day, taking a walk through town, ye'd do well not to witness a transaction taking place. The guards know this is happenin, when and where as addicts tend to live their life by routine. Why don't you see too many arrests in town, or searching of known pushers?

Gary ITR

Roddy23 wrote:

I'd say fairplay to the Guards in this situation, but only if they showed consistency right across the board. On any given day, taking a walk through town, ye'd do well not to witness a transaction taking place. The guards know this is happenin, when and where as addicts tend to live their life by routine. Why don't you see too many arrests in town, or searching of known pushers?

I'm not saying the guards weren't just doing their job, it was their attitude. They treated me like I had done something wrong, what about innocent until proven guilty? The thing that really gets me is that anytime I walk through or past places like Tara St. station I see drug deals taking place in broad daylight and not a guard in sight.

Dave!

Fajitas! wrote:

To be honest, would you prefer if the gardai didn't do anything? At all?

People always give out about being searched, but to be fair, just because you're not up to anything, dosn't mean the next person in a bog standard Golf isn't. They're not to know your not involved in anything your not supposed to be, without looking. And at least they were able to say you are one of the 'good guys'.

I know I'll most likely get slated for this post, but meh. They have a job to do.

Yeah I agree

Peace

Too often we moan about the Gardai doing fvck all about crimes right under their noses.

No people are moaning about them actually doing something about suspicious behaviour.

I say fair play to them for doing something about what they obviously thought was a drug deal.

Roddy23

The thing that really gets me is that anytime I walk through or past places like Tara St. station I see drug deals taking place in broad daylight and not a guard in sight.

Ye, thats exactly the way i see it too. I've been searched a few times, I know they are just doing their job, and I respect that, just some of the Guards could learn a thing or two about dignity.(And its only a minority, before I get attacked about this).

b3t4

Umm, what did you want the Gardai to say to ya, be all nicely, nicely, easy does it about the whole thing??

You're innocent but the next guy might not be. Do you think that a person who is guilty is just going to hang around while the gardai get on with the niceities?? They moved fast and tbh I wouldn't have expected them to do anything else.

Also, people are talking about the drug dealing in the city centre, fair enough it shouldn't be happening but what if these drug dealers are only small time and it's the big time drug dealers that need to be taken out. Get rid of the big fish and small fish will soon have nowhere to go and have much fewer drugs to sell as supply has dropped.

A.

0utshined

Peace wrote:

No people are moaning about them actually doing something about suspicious behaviour.

That isn't the OP's complaint at all. He is not complaining that they searched his car, he is complaining about the way they did it. From the way it was described they acted in a very unprofessional manner. Flashing a badge and hopping into a car and starting to root around isn't on. The third guard should have told him why he was being searched and under what act before they entered his car.

lostexpectation

Onkle51 wrote:

I accept that the guards were just doing a job. It was the way they went about it that got to me, and the fact that when they left the three little scroats were left to continue asking people for money and interfering with cars

sounds like they completely failed in doing their job then

Gary ITR

0utshined wrote:

That isn't the OP's complaint at all. He is not complaining that they searched his car, he is complaining about the way they did it. From the way it was described they acted in a very unprofessional manner. Flashing a badge and hopping into a car and starting to root around isn't on. The third guard should have told him why he was being searched and under what act before they entered his car.

Thats my point exactly, I have no problem with the guards doing their job, just do it properly. And somebody here asked if I expected them to be nice about it? No I didn't but a bit of courtesy wouldn't have been bad. I had to ask them why they were searching my car. One of them just opened the back door and started rifling through my stuff without even saying anything

Peace

0utshined wrote:

That isn't the OP's complaint at all. He is not complaining that they searched his car, he is complaining about the way they did it. From the way it was described they acted in a very unprofessional manner. Flashing a badge and hopping into a car and starting to root around isn't on. The third guard should have told him why he was being searched and under what act before they entered his car.

If i was a suspected drug dealer i wouldn't be expecting please and thank you's. I can completely understand why the Garai acted the way they did. They have my full support.

homah_7ft

Peace wrote:

If i was a suspected drug dealer i wouldn't be expecting please and thank you's. I can completely understand why the Garai acted the way they did. They have my full support.

But the point is he isn't a drug dealer. They could have done the same job without freaking the guy out.

FranknFurter

Onkle51 wrote:

Tonight I parked my car in the statoil at the Square shopping centre, before I got out of my car I was sending a text when a kid (14-15ish) knocked on the window asking for money for petrol for his car.

Hang on, what was a 14/15 year old doing with a car in the first place? (even claiming they did).

Surely thats what the guards shoulda been looking into?
Nevermind harrassment of the public, begging, interference with a car....... i mean c'mon guys get a grip, I agree the drugs problem is a huge issue but still, no matter what, if they thought these little feckers were dealing, they would be the ones for them to target surely?

b

Fajitas!

0utshined wrote:

That isn't the OP's complaint at all. He is not complaining that they searched his car, he is complaining about the way they did it. From the way it was described they acted in a very unprofessional manner. Flashing a badge and hopping into a car and starting to root around isn't on. The third guard should have told him why he was being searched and under what act before they entered his car.

But just imagine, for the sake of this post, the OP was a drug dealer, or as the case was, a potential one. If the gardai saw what may have looked to them as a transaction, they took the inititive, and went for it. By taking their time with it, it could have given a drug dealer a chance to hide whatever drugs they had, or try to escape.

As regards why the Gardai didn't go for the kid; which would seem more likely to have drugs on them? The kid that goes up to the window, or the guy behind the window. Again, Gardai taking the inititive - the car would/could have carried a lot more drugs than a kid. Much bigger find. And I'm sure if they did find their drugs, they would have tried to find the kid too.

I just think that you're overreacting by this. I've been searched a few times, might be a bit embarassing, but I wouldn't see anything wrong with it. I don't have anything to worry about.

0utshined

Peace wrote:

If i was a suspected drug dealer i wouldn't be expecting please and thank you's. I can completely understand why the Garai acted the way they did. They have my full support.

If you'd bothered to read his posts you'd see that neither was the OP. As a member of the public he expected, quite rightly, a basic level of civility and to be advised of what Act they were intending to search his car under. He was innocent, had not being convicted of any crime and from what I have read of his posts would have had no problem complying with the guards. You really should expect the same for yourself if it were to occur to you, I can't understand why you wouldn't.

0utshined

Fajitas! wrote:

But just imagine, for the sake of this post, the OP was a drug dealer, or as the case was, a potential one. If the gardai saw what may have looked to them as a transaction, they took the inititive, and went for it. By taking their time with it, it could have given a drug dealer a chance to hide whatever drugs they had, or try to escape.

For the sake of argument lets as that is what the Guards did. Neither I nor the OP have a problem with the Gardai taking the initiative as you put it. In fact I would fully expect them to. The problem is not that they searched the car but the manner in which it was done. Flashing a badge and hopping in the back seat to start searching is not the way to do it. Telling him what act they were searching his car under would not be taking their time. It would not have given him a chance to hide anything (they were standing beside his car!) and his chance of escape would have remained roughly the same, especially with a third guard already in a squad car. It also would not have left the OP feeling aggrieved about his encounter with them.