Your experience with the Gardai

rannerap wrote: »

A few years ago I was the victim of an attempted mugging when coming out of work on the Malahide road in Dublin. It was 5.30 in the day and two lads tried to rob me while one swung a stanley blade at me/kicked me. The guards were there very quickly. They followed it up and I was interviewed etc. They were nothing but lovely and so helpful. They managed to catch one of the guys and he got sent to prison for a few months.

I would have assumed because nothing much happened it would have just been brushed off and forgotten about. Especially because of the area it was in. Was surprised by how seriously they took it and how much work they put in to not only find them, but to get them punished for it.

Im very surprised too that they cared, and even more surprised they caught them. But its sad that somebody swinging a knife at you isn't considered a crime worth caring about !

Stonedpilot wrote: »

Noveight wrote: »

I don't need a solicitor or a VICE article to tell me otherwise tbh. Experience trumps knowledge for me and in my experience being up front and straightforward with a Garda is a surefire way of going about your day as planned as opposed to cracking on with "no comment" or questioning the legal obligations to answer a question.

But hey, whatever floats your boat.

Ok, but you mentioned time wasting, hey if they approach you simply not answering questions saves time on both parties. You can knock yourself out telling them your life story!.

Here is an excellent youtube video by an American Solicitor on why you should NEVER speak to police on duty. Think his decades of law knowledge trumps yours or mine!.

https://youtu.be/d-7o9xYp7eE

US Solicitor referring to US Police 🙄 If you think the possible interactions (especially any bad ones) you can have with a Garda are worth whinging about I recommend you go have even just 1 bad experience once with a US Law enforcement official, the thing about the relationship we have with the Garda is most don’t realise how good we have it with the majority good Garda out there doing their job as best as they can, the attitude of most Police forces in Europe and the US (as others have mentioned in the thread) would make you cry for the decent touch we get off (most) Garda.

The management level are problematic and that’s where a lot of the scandal stuff has emerged from, no more so than any other corporate level management does here (banks etc), but the rank and file, like any other cross section of a profession are, as shown by people’s contributions here, roughly 60% do a good job, 20% are fantastic, like hero level stuff and then there’s probably 20% who are just either unsuited and incapable or worse power trip types.

weldoninhio wrote: »

I'll explain this again s l o w l y.

He can ask any lawful question if you are stopped on the street, legally you are only obliged to give your name and address. You cannot be arrested for only giving your name and address.

So when you are arrested the Garda doesn't say "You are not obliged to say anything unless you wish to do so, but whatever you say will be taken down in writing and may be given in evidence."

You can type as slowly as you like, it all comes up together. Do you now know how forums work? You're claim that I quoted was still completely incorrect no matter how much you want to move the goalposts. Even the caution which you just quoted there is subject to exceptions.

RustyNut wrote: »

So if you answer all the gardas questions and give them any information they happen to ask for what will happen to that data?

Will it be kept forever, will it be deleted if and when your no longer "suspected" of an offence.

Or maybe some corrupt garda might sell it on to a private company which might not be in your best intrest.

I would be of the opinion that you are best served by keeping your information to yourself unless obliged to do otherwise.

I suppose that depends on the information being requested.

Coming from the UK I can tell you the Garda here are great. They are not the Robocop type thing you get in the UK.

I was pulled at a checkpoint onetime because my tax was out by 5days but I had no nct. The garda was sound about it he gave me 30 days to produce because I was busy on the road ... and I imagine because he knew it would take that long to get an nct. I got one on day 29 ( first appt I could get) and produced and never heard any more.

In the UK it would have been a fine and points for sure.

Davidth88 wrote: »

Coming from the UK I can tell you the Garda here are great. They are not the Robocop type thing you get in the UK.

I was pulled at a checkpoint onetime because my tax was out by 5days but I had no nct. The garda was sound about it he gave me 30 days to produce because I was busy on the road ... and I imagine because he knew it would take that long to get an nct. I got one on day 29 ( first appt I could get) and produced and never heard any more.

In the UK it would have been a fine and points for sure.

Maybe that's why people in the UK are far more likely to keep their car taxed and mot'd, proper enforcement.

I gave a Garda a thumbs up at a check point many years ago, and he returned the gesture.

I did get arrested once or twice, for stupid suff when i was younger and got a few digs, but i deserved them. Havent been in any trouble in years and the only contact ive had with garda were at checkpoints and ive always found them fine. Although i did get a young garda, who must have been fresh outta templemore questioning me at a checkpoint last year when i was coming back from fishing. Who are you, where do you live, What are you doing out here etc.. I had to say i was pretty pissed off after it. But ive found just be civil and they'd be civil back.

My house got robbed about 15 years ago. I rang the garda and two came up a little while later. I showed them where they broke in and the garda had a look around my house . i could see that they werent too bothered until they seen a picture my father had of his brother, who was a training officer in templemore getting an award from the commissioner in the house. The garda asked who the was in the picture and i told them it was my uncle. Well their attitude changed fairly quick. Out came the notepad and a call to get someone up to take fingerprints etc...They never did catch them tho.

They have a tough job dealing with scum and when the scum are brought to court, more often than not the judges arent tough enough. Its a job i wouldnt do. But on a whole the garda arent that bad. When you look at cops in the States , we should count ourselves lucky

Stonedpilot wrote: »

Ok, but you mentioned time wasting, hey if they approach you simply not answering questions saves time on both parties. You can knock yourself out telling them your life story!.

Here is an excellent youtube video by an American Solicitor on why you should NEVER speak to police on duty. Think his decades of law knowledge trumps yours or mine!.

https://youtu.be/d-7o9xYp7eE

They are different police organisations, we are not in the US and operate to a different legal system, societal rules.

In my unscientific measurement of my dealings with them, 90% good or very good, 9% so-so, 1% are-souls.

The problem is that 1% stick in the mind a lot more than the rest. Like the one and only time I got breath-tested, while riding a motorbike. I was at a midweek gig in the RDS with friends and we arranged to meet after in a pub a mile from my house for a quick pint and a chat. I usually don't drink anything when I ride but one pint so close was OK.

A few seconds after riding off afterwards to go home, I got pulled over. They must have seen the bike parked outside the pub and were waiting - three or four cops, which seemed unusual. I told them I was under the limit and when I passed the test, they were all OK except one, who got visibly enraged and started on an anti-biker rant for a couple of minutes, including lying that new laws were coming in that would make having one pint illegal, so I should get used to it now (wtf?). As I'm in a car 90% of the time, I just let it go.

Despite all the good experiences dealing with gardai through my work and having some nice ones let me off with a warning for minor traffic stuff, the image of that jumped-up idiot stays with me. And his anti-biker bias meant that he didn't breathalyse one my car-driving friends - he had two pints and was probably over the limit.

NIMAN wrote: »

Very limited contact, but excellent.

Then again, I grew up with the RUC.

Around our area we just threw rocks at them cnuts