Lack of Garda presence on Dublin's streets

civildefence

I don't know if anyone agrees with me on this but I think there is an unbelieveable lack of Gardai visible on the streets of Dublin, specifically when it matters most like Friday and Saturday nights at closing time. Trouble can so easily break out - and nearly always does, but the Gardai have to be called to the scene, where in my opinion they should be there in anticipation - as a rule. I was in Liverpool recently and have seen that police there adopt this policy in force. Flourescent coats on every corner. Trouble can be diffused quickly before it gets out of control and people generally feel safer making their way home. I am not for a minute blaming the rank and file members on this, but surely the men in charge should act on this, especially the way this town is going these days.

djtechnics1210

You can thank the recession for the lack of members on the street.....

ScubaDave

I disagree mate!

Im in dublin (on the beer) regularly enough! And as a member from working in a rural enough district, you dont know how lucky you are in dublin with the presence you have! Its unbelievable, guards are everywhere! Whether you spot it or not!

civildefence

Fair enough Dave but I think making the presence more obvious, primarily as a deterrent is what is needed. Chances are if i'm not seeing a presence, neither are the scumbags. I was very impressed with how it's handled in England.

POGAN

Guys i haven't been in Dublin in ages but i was in cork with my wexford girlfriend she couldn't believe the amount of gardai that was on patrol in city fermony and mallow...even to bring up cork on Wednesday just gone saw 2 patrol cars, unmarked car, RSU (not armed mode) foot patrol of 2 sperate pares of gardai great to see this at 2 in the day

Trojan911

POGAN wrote: »

Guys i haven't been in Dublin in ages but i was in cork with my wexford girlfriend she couldn't believe the amount of gardai that was on patrol in city fermony and mallow...even to bring up cork on Wednesday just gone saw 2 patrol cars, unmarked car, RSU (not armed mode) foot patrol of 2 sperate pares of gardai great to see this at 2 in the day

The Council & local Gardai came together in Cork recently & are apparently addressing local issues.

I have been told it is aimed more at the weekends with high viz patrolling in flashpoint areas for drunkeness, begging, fighting etc. Not sure how long it is going to go on for though. This was also aired on local radio.

civildefence

civildefence wrote: »

I don't know if anyone agrees with me on this but I think there is an unbelieveable lack of Gardai visible on the streets of Dublin, specifically when it matters most like Friday and Saturday nights at closing time. Trouble can so easily break out - and nearly always does, but the Gardai have to be called to the scene, where in my opinion they should be there in anticipation - as a rule. I was in Liverpool recently and have seen that police there adopt this policy in force. Flourescent coats on every corner. Trouble can be diffused quickly before it gets out of control and people generally feel safer making their way home. I am not for a minute blaming the rank and file members on this, but surely the men in charge should act on this, especially the way this town is going these days.

Hey Civ, There are plenty of gardai working on the streets of Dublin at the busy chucking out times. You may not notice them because of the high volume of people on the streets. Also, they may be dealing with public order issues on another street. If there is a fight larger numbers of gardai will attend that fight and obviously not be standing around watching. Then there is the problem of having to arrest somebody. That garda is off the streets until the prisoner is transfered to the station, entered into the custody record and charged. Not to mention dealing with people who have drunk themselves stupid and cannot walk.

It would be nice to have more numbers on the street but we do what we can with the numbers we have.

And finally, things would be a lot safer if people watched what they drink and take responsibility for their own actions.

sunnyjim

ScubaDave wrote: »

I disagree mate!

Im in dublin (on the beer) regularly enough! And as a member from working in a rural enough district, you dont know how lucky you are in dublin with the presence you have! Its unbelievable, guards are everywhere! Whether you spot it or not!

I'm from Dublin, but moved to galway. I'm still shocked at the lack of gardai around the place!

Zambia

I fail to see why people are shocked at the lack of Gardai on the streets .... When normally the same people want zero tolerance.

Zero tolerance leads to mass arresting and processing , leading to less police actually on the streets.

Sadly the laws of economics are going to bite us every time.

ScubaDave

Zero tolerance has its place - but not with public order!

Jesus, if we arrested every drunk in ireland.........

ScubaDave

ScubaDave wrote: »

Zero tolerance has its place - but not with public order!

Jesus, if we arrested every drunk in ireland.........

...there wouldn't be a garda left on the streets!

617

Maybe if there wern't so many Gardai stuck minding buildings on Kildare St. and Merrion Sq. etc. where the lights are on but at the moment there is nobody home !! they could be doing the job they want to do. Also when they arrest somebody I think it is sometime before they are back on the streets.Can a member confirm this. A little more help from the general public would help e.g. Garda beaten up by smugbags in front of a crowd recently on the quays. What did most of the crowd do- film it !!!

jank

ScubaDave wrote: »

Zero tolerance has its place - but not with public order!

Jesus, if we arrested every drunk in ireland.........

Well technically shouldn't you?

cushtac

jank wrote: »

Well technically shouldn't you?

Technically Gardaí can come onto your land and prosecute you for letting thistles grow on it, that doesn't mean they should do it.

Gardaí have discretion, they can decide whether or not to arrest someone. As has already been said, arresting someone for something as simple as public drunkenness will result in a Garda being off the streets for an hour at the very least. In order to ensure there's enough Gardaí on the streets for more serious stuff, more minor things like public drunkenness is tolerated.

FGR

Good presence in Dublin alright; but I agree with the OP - the police presence in Liverpool is immense. Same with other large cities like Paris and stretching as far away as New York.

It's all down to numbers. Bearing in mind that we may have about, what, 4,000 rank and file covering the entire landmass of the country at any one time..It's not easy to manage that type of presence.

Add to that the cutbacks :rolleyes:.

TheNog

A few years ago didn't the GRA request the Government to sanction an independent study to look into how our number of Gardai compare to other Police forces? If I am correct I believe the Government denied the request.

starbelgrade

Try living in the sticks where the local stations are opened randomly - once or twice a month & the only time they ever visit your village is to operate pointless checkpoints.

congo_90

op you cannot be serious? You cannot compare us to the uk who have much more funding into antisocial behanviour. I as a citizen who can say the garda are there but can you expect them on every street corner of temple bar, even Dublin?
There is a lack of resources in terms of garda numbers. They are doing their best to put up with drunken twats every weekend while dealing with emergencies etc

As others have said, the presense of garda in Dublin city v's where i've live the last 3 years where the gards are only there mon-sat 10:30-13:00.

TheNog

starbelgrade wrote: »

Try living in the sticks where the local stations are opened randomly - once or twice a month & the only time they ever visit your village is to operate pointless checkpoints.

Checkpoints are far from pointless. They are used not only for traffic offences.

civildefence

congo_90 wrote: »

op you cannot be serious? You cannot compare us to the uk who have much more funding into antisocial behanviour. I as a citizen who can say the garda are there but can you expect them on every street corner of temple bar, even Dublin?
There is a lack of resources in terms of garda numbers. They are doing their best to put up with drunken twats every weekend while dealing with emergencies etc

As others have said, the presense of garda in Dublin city v's where i've live the last 3 years where the gards are only there mon-sat 10:30-13:00.

We're a modern, wealthy European country. Recession or not, there's no excuse for a lack of resources being put into policing no matter what the climate, nor is there an excuse for the current insufficient manpower or moratorium on recruitment to An Garda Síochana. The construction industry may have slowed down, but the crime industry most certainly will not.

starbelgrade

TheNog wrote: »

Checkpoints are far from pointless. They are used not only for traffic offences.

They are completely pointless in the village I live in - you can see them from a mile off & avoid them if you so please / need to do, by taking a different route home.

Only the up-to-date taxed & the sober go through them.

the locust

starbelgrade wrote: »

They are completely pointless in the village I live in - you can see them from a mile off & avoid them if you so please / need to do, by taking a different route home.

Only the up-to-date taxed & the sober go through them.

must... resist urge to debate!...

deadwood

TheNog wrote: »

A few years ago didn't the GRA request the Government to sanction an independent study to look into how our number of Gardai compare to other Police forces? If I am correct I believe the Government denied the request.

Correct.

The study couldn't be carried out due to lack of manpower and resources.

Those mercs won't buy themselves you know!:D

Paulzx

TheNog wrote: »

A few years ago didn't the GRA request the Government to sanction an independent study to look into how our number of Gardai compare to other Police forces? If I am correct I believe the Government denied the request.

Why would the powers that be waste money on a study that they already know the answers to and would ignore the official findings or at best cherry pick from its recommendations?

Every official independant study carried out by this state no matter what the subject is either binned or severly watered down when the results don't suit the political or fiscal agenda. The only winners are the private sector consultancy firms who make millions from reports that are consistantly ignored.

wilson10

civildefence wrote: »

We're a modern, wealthy European country. Recession or not, there's no excuse for a lack of resources being put into policing no matter what the climate, nor is there an excuse for the current insufficient manpower or moratorium on recruitment to An Garda Síochana. The construction industry may have slowed down, but the crime industry most certainly will not.

Wealthy !

Where have you been for the last few years ?

civildefence

wilson10 wrote: »

Wealthy !

Where have you been for the last few years ?

The state has plenty of money believe me.