Good article in the today's Herald

starviewadams

Pretty interesting stuff: http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/the-wire-irish-style-2222216.html

msg11

Well worth the read. Would mind a 'ride along' myself!

DavidH82

msg11 wrote: »

Well worth the read. Would mind a 'ride along' myself!

Great article. I can't ever see a ridealong being allowed here though. Insurance, health and safety, the red tape would be endless. Saying that it could be a great thing if done properly.

Wouldn't it be great to have some of our politicians spend a Saturday night in a patrol car? Might open their eyes to what goes on in the real world.

edellc

msg11 wrote: »

Well worth the read. Would mind a 'ride along' myself!

great article wish they did the ride along here would be a great insight and might bring about greater respect for the gardai from the younger generation

da__flash

msg11 wrote: »

Well worth the read. Would mind a 'ride along' myself!

they already do a ride along service its called the garda reserve :pac::D:cool:

Starburst85

I think something like a Ride Along would be defo worth it if put in place. It would give people a better insight into what the gardai have to put up with.

DavidH82

da__flash wrote: »

they already do a ride along service its called the garda reserve :pac::D:cool:

lol I knew someone was going to say that.

Delancey

can't ever seeing it happening here tbh - the Irish Bureaucrats favourite excuse of '' not possible for 'insurance' reasons ''

deadwood

"the police believe allowing residents to experience police work is a crucial part of its community policing, "

Expect ride alongs to be mandatory pretty soon!

baronflyguy

DavidH82 wrote: »

Great article. I can't ever see a ridealong being allowed here though. Insurance, health and safety, the red tape would be endless. Saying that it could be a great thing if done properly.

Slightly off topic to the Gardai/Cops side of things, I never fully understood, the redtape, why vol org are not allowed to get ridealong experience with ambulance crews. Because the experience would be hugely beneficial to volunteers.

DavidH82 wrote: »

Wouldn't it be great to have some of our politicians spend a Saturday night in a patrol car? Might open their eyes to what goes on in the real world.

Irish TV producers should be a Job Swap for the day, it would make interesting viewing.

MagicSean

baronflyguy wrote: »

Slightly off topic to the Gardai/Cops side of things, I never fully understood, the redtape, why vol org are not allowed to get ridealong experience with ambulance crews. Because the experience would be hugely beneficial to volunteers.


Irish TV producers should be a Job Swap for the day, it would make interesting viewing.

I reckon it's an insurance and liability thing.

Ride along would be pretty cool. Don't see how there'd be any issue with it really. Surely the civillian doing it can just buy insurance for the few hours that he'll be doing it?

Provided Joe Soap knows there's a risk of being hurt, and signs insurance forms and such to state that he is aware of it and in the event of any pain or stress caused by the 'ride along', he can not bring AGS to court, etc.


In fact, considering the likelyhood of geting seriously injured is fairly slim, i'd say an insurance company could make a fortune from such a scheme.

Dunno how the Gardaì would react though. The civillian would need to be equipped with a baton and such, too. If Joe Soap had to remain unarmed, I don't think too many Gardaì would want to be stuck with him, incase anything gets out of hand.

Delancey

Deleted User wrote: »

Dunno how the Gardaì would react though. The civillian would need to be equipped with a baton and such, too. If Joe Soap had to remain unarmed, I don't think too many Gardaì would want to be stuck with him, incase anything gets out of hand.

Utterly ludicrious idea IMO , giving a baton/asp which is a potentially lethal weapon to an untrained civilian ? Now that is a recipe for a charge of assault or worse .

Good idea though about the ride along idemnifying the Gardai /Minister against any claims.

bravestar

Deleted User wrote: »

Dunno how the Gardaì would react though. The civillian would need to be equipped with a baton and such, too. If Joe Soap had to remain unarmed, I don't think too many Gardaì would want to be stuck with him, incase anything gets out of hand.

Im all for ride alongs but that would be insane. I would not want to be stuck with an untrained civillian in possession of a lethal weapon who will probably draw it and crap his pants at the first sign of trouble. Talk about a disaster waiting to happen...

arybvtcw0eolkf

Starburst85 wrote: »

I think something like a Ride Along would be defo worth it if put in place. It would give people a better insight into what the gardai have to put up with.

I'd rather our guards were just allowed to get on with the job and not be bothered by a voyeur tbh.

Grizzly 45

Very SOP for all police and Sheriff depts in the US.As a taxpayer you are entitled to see how your tax money is spent on law enforcement in your city.Most PDs just the tax payer on a tour guide of an area where it is relatively safe,and not much likely to happen.They do get them to sign off on absolution of responsibility of injury or death in the event of etc.
Anything that makes our Govt organs more open and transparent is worthwhile.

deadwood

I'm going to insist on sitting in on a few primary school classes and child care facilities before I send my children there. It's my tax money, after all, so I'm entitled to check them out.

I'll be damned if I give them permission to check out my background first, though. That'd infringe on my rights.

Zambia

We do ride alongs for potential employees. They sign waivers etc and are told to stay in the car in case of trouble.

In the case of the AGS I think deadwood is right. Nobody ever clamours to be allowed ride along with the following
Binmen
Libarians
Hse Admin staff
DCC staff
etc

In essence someone just wants "cops" the live version.

Irish_polizei

I see the PSNI are doing ride alongs now, noticed it being mentioned on one

of the psni facebook pages......

cushtac

I fail to see how taking Gardaí away from normal duties in order to give civvies a tour of a quiet area is an effective use of resources.

Corcioch

cushtac wrote: »

I fail to see how taking Gardaí away from normal duties in order to give civvies a tour of a quiet area is an effective use of resources.

+ 1.

If any concerened Tax Payer wants to see how their Taxes are spent let them go into the Charge Courts or the Circuit Courts and see criminals Gardai have worked hard to get before the courts being dealt with.

( the "cynical" amongst us would change "dealt with" to "let off" . . . . . . . the realists amongst us would change "cynical" to "realistic" )

cushtac

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Anything that makes our Govt organs more open and transparent is worthwhile.

We've got the Comptroller & Auditor General, the Garda Inspectorate, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, the Joint Oireacthas Committee on Justice & Defence and local authority Joint Policing Committees all looking at Garda practices & procedures - there's no need for individual citizens to 'oversee' things as well.

Zambia

Maybe we should start the idea from the top down.

If members of the public can "Ride Along" with Ministers first and lets see really where our (well your) money is being spent.

Due to the likes of Jim McDaid you may still have to sign a waiver

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/madcap-chase-as-mcdaid-arrested-for-drink-driving-266337.html

Layzehfoo

Jeez,

I reckoned it was a nice idea. But what turned it into a fantastic idea was the point above about "getting to see your public service at work". Leaving out the political campaigning points of "let's follow ministers/courts letting off criminals/primary schoo teachers" stuff, it makes sense for community members to be able to see what the local police force has to put up with. I personally see a good use for people like St Vincent de Paul & other social workers, people considering a career in AGS, and politicians (as long as they keep quiet and observe!)

Zambia

No offence mate I just dont see the benefit to anyone but the ride along person aquiring a pub story.

Still think it's a good idea, personally. Would be all for getting to see what life is like as a Garda. Would it not be the same as a Garda being teamed with a Reserve member for a day?

Don't see why it's a big issue to be honest. Provided the person wanting to do it has been screened to not be a scumbag with a million offences or a history of mental health disorders or other such obvious points.

Corcioch

Deleted User wrote: »

Still think it's a good idea, personally. Would be all for getting to see what life is like as a Garda. Would it not be the same as a Garda being teamed with a Reserve member for a day?

Don't see why it's a big issue to be honest. Provided the person wanting to do it has been screened to not be a scumbag with a million offences or a history of mental health disorders or other such obvious points.

No, cos a reservist is a member of An Gárda Síochána, albeit a part time vol member. . . . there are plenty of reservists out there to a fine days work and do it in a vey professional manner giving of their spare time for no financial reward.

Bringing Joe Public around in your car is a disaster as your automatically restricted from doing x, y & z should they occur during your shift . . . .you and your entire shift will have to watch what you say all the time they are present should you refer to any confidential info . . .especially in small town Ireland.

Your not going to be responding to emergencies, violent calls or assisting with pursuits with some civi on a ride along in the car . . .so your a wasted resoource.

Gardaí are there to do a job . . . . . that job has nothing ( even the community policing aspect ) to do with providing entertainment for joe public.

I can see how they do it in the states, they have so many cars attached to each station its not a problem for an officer to take a car and give someone a tour,

Here in Ireland there is often only one uniform car attached to a station . . . . and less the way things are going, and we cant spare that one car to go giving sightseeing trips.

We're struggling as is already to provide the Bike Safe scheme . . . . .an initiative that is far more benefical and does much more good.



. . .and then we have the problem of litigation and caims . . . . .there could be loads. And it doesn't matter what they sign or dont sign . . . if you have a civi in your car you have a duty of care to them and the state will be liable if anything happens them, simples.

The Civil Claims culture in this country is a joke . . . Take a recent case, woman walking along a footpath, hears a siren, turns to look around to see what it is . . in doing so she looses direction and ends up off the footpath, into the road and gets hit by a car.

She takes a claim against the state . . . . there was no proof she heard a siren, no actual sighting of ANY Garda car . . .no record of a car in that area at that time responding to an emergency . . .ie; no evidence at all.

She was awarded a lump of money.

There's a claims culture for you.

Zambia

You are joking that cant be true? Re the siren.

Corcioch

Zambia232 wrote: »

You are joking that cant be true? Re the siren.

True Story im afraid

cushtac

I also wonder how people here would feel if Gardaí were called to a family dispute at their home and had a civvy in tow, would they feel comfortable discussing matters in front of a member of the public?

I assume, if such a thing happened, the civillian would be kitted in Garda gear (or some made up Civillian Garda outfit or some such). Don't think ye'd be attending calls in jeans and a t-shirt.


Fair post Corcioch.