Gardaí on patrol in city centre

inorout

I asked this yesterday because I was on Grafton Street at the weekend and saw an ASU Audi Q7 parked across from the entrance to the St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre with lads armed with Heckler and Koch assault rifles in it.

What good are they there? If it's a gangland shooting like a user pointed out yesterday, what will they do, shoot the perpetrator(s) dead?

I just don't get it!

neris

could have been surveilance or looking out for a gangland scummer who may have been in the area

inorout

In that case, why would they need H&K assault rifles?

Gatling

inorout wrote: »

In that case, why would they need H&K assault rifles?

Assault rifles

inorout

What are you talking about?

I'll repeat the question:

In that case, why would they need H&K assault rifles?

srsly78

Sub-machine guns. It's just optics, having guns on the street is what some voters want.

Grolschevik

Given your thread yesterday was deemed not to be legal discussion, perhaps you might consider asking for this one to be moved to Emergency Services or similar?

inorout

Is the HK416 not an assault rifle, are they not used by the ASU?

Back to the main question, what would they do with the guns? IMO it's just plain pointless to have them just sitting there in a Q7 staring out the window with Heckler and Koch guns strapped around them.

Do you not think that's a bit pointless? If a gangster wants to kill another gangster, a Garda vehicle parked on a street isn't going to do anything, now is it?

srsly78

Yes HK416 is an assault rifle, but usually see them with sub-machine guns. It's just to provide a visible armed presence - deterrence.

Victor

inorout wrote: »

I asked this yesterday because I was on Grafton Street at the weekend and saw an ASU Audi Q7 parked across from the entrance to the St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre with lads armed with Heckler and Koch assault rifles in it.

They may have been sub-machine guns, not assault rifles.

What good are they there?

They provide a certain level of deterrent to crime. In the event of a serious incident, they can help bring the incident to an end and/or in arresting the criminals

If it's a gangland shooting like a user pointed out yesterday, what will they do, shoot the perpetrator(s) dead?

The usual objective is to arrest criminals. Only in exceptional situations are they shot. If someone is shot there is a high risk of them dying.

Members of the garda and / or the Defence Force do shoot people from time to time: https://www.google.ie/search?q=shot+by+gardai&rlz=1C1CHBF_enIE704IE704&oq=shot+by+gardai&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.4830j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

AlanG

They are not just there for gangsters - given what has happened recently in the center of London and many European cities it is no harm to have them close to the main shopping and tourist areas with enough firepower to stop a vehicle.

OP, is your question why was the ASU on Grafton Street, or is the question why did they have their weapons with them?

If the latter then I would imagine its because ASU personnel are required to have their weapons with them while they are on duty.

As for why they were where you saw them, I doubt you will get an answer.

inorout

Yes, but I've also seen ASU checkpoints in Swords as well as other places in the north county. A 30 tonne truck is hardly going to attack Main Street in Swords now is it? What's the point of them being in Swords?

harr

Its an armed presence on the streets...the same as every other European capital city at the moment. It's something we are going to have to get used to.
And no point having an armed response unit without firearms on display....
Grafton street is one of the busiest streets in Europe so I would be surprised if the ASU wasn't knocking around somewhere close by.

D3V!L

It's the world we live in now. OP, knock on their window and demand they tell you what they're doing.

harr

inorout wrote: »

Yes, but I've also seen ASU checkpoints in Swords as well as other places in the north county. A 30 tonne truck is hardly going to attack Main Street in Swords now is it? What's the point of them being in Swords?

Don't know why your surprised to see ASU out and about, I have come across ASU check points in the back arse of kildare on a few occasions, they deal with all manner of policing and support not just terrorist related incidents. They back up regular guards when the need arises and deal with gang issues in the city..

inorout

inorout wrote: »

Yes, but I've also seen ASU checkpoints in Swords as well as other places in the north county. A 30 tonne truck is hardly going to attack Main Street in Swords now is it? What's the point of them being in Swords?

Montauban in France suffered a terrorist attack earlier this year. The population of Swords is larger than Montauban by over 7000 people. Fact is, no-one knows where an attack might be. As for the ASU doing checkpoints, I'm not going to speculate as to why a checkpoint was in a particular place.

inorout

Just a very brief question, is there a difference between the ASU and ERU?

Del2005

inorout wrote: »

Yes, but I've also seen ASU checkpoints in Swords as well as other places in the north county. A 30 tonne truck is hardly going to attack Main Street in Swords now is it? What's the point of them being in Swords?

They do checkpoints for other than terrorism. Our home grown criminals have access to assault rifles so they police intercepting them have to be similarly armed.

Look what happened in LA years ago when heavily armed and armoured criminals took on police with only pistols the police had to go to a gun shop to get better weapons, we don't have better weapons in our shops.

Victor

inorout wrote: »

Just a very brief question, is there a difference between the ASU and ERU?

The RSU / ASU seem to be deployed around the country on patrol, checkpoints, etc. The ERU deals with high risk scenarios - arrest warrants, prisoner transfer, armed incidents, etc.

harr wrote: »

Its an armed presence on the streets...the same as every other European capital city at the moment.

Actually, in other countries (other than the UK), the vat majority of police are armed. In Ireland, it's about 10%.

source

What they were doing there is actually none of your business op, sorry to be blunt about it, but it isn't.

All you or anyone else needs to know about their activities, is that they're out patrolling our major towns and cities to protect against crime and to provide armed support to their unarmed colleagues.

And realistically, that's all you need to know.

nuac

Mod
As "source" says.
Inorout, you were already told that ERU movements etc were not for LEgal Discussion, yet you repeated the post today.
Asking you, nicely, not to post here again on that topic
Closed