What are your personal experiences with the Gardai

The underground car park of my apt block was fleeced a couple of yrs ago, for me it was a bike stolen.. i reported the stolen bike, gard was friendly, went through the motions, as another poster stated earlier the report was taken freehand on a scrap piece of paper so i wondered was there any interest. He told me that there was numerous reports that day from my complex and also the one down the road was fleeced too. That they will be looking at cctv etc.. i got the letter with the report number and a yr later the one sating case closed with out further info of any investigation. Fair enough, they have bigger fish to fry etc
Well heres the bit that annoys me as a normal law abiding citizen, and i can imagine demorilizes the gardai aswell. A couple of weeks after the event i was chatting with the complex handyman. He said the gards were up looking at the cctv and that they know exaclty who the thieves were, a "syndicate from darndale" but that they're hands were tied and nothing will be done.

On a personal level i knew a few gards syrs ago when i lived at home. They joined my former sporting organisation. All 3 were sound normal lads. I remember being out in town with them one night after a game and all of a sudden some scobe came from nowhere and started hurling abuse at them coz they recognized them as gards. Cant be easy getting abused in work and outside.

Both examples above could give a reason as to why they seem disinterested etc

For actual issues I have called them for they have been great and there fairly quickly 2 times in work called them and they were exceptionally efficient at what they did.

BUT!!!

I did have an issue with my neighbor calling the police because my kids were playing football on the field outside our house.

The cops that came one of them was related to him and from a different garda station than our own.

We had an interesting chat they told me I could get an ASBO I told them thats a law in the UK and not Ireland. (they said ASBO, I am aware we have something similar but they used the wording of ASBO)

Basically they were there to bully me at his behest, i played the game and called a mate who is a solicitor and had him on loudspeaker for our little chat.

retro:electro wrote: »

Only dealings I’ve ever had with Garda is when they’ve stamped my passport forms.
If you find yourself frequented with the Guards more than the average person, well there’s probably a reason for that.

I find this to be quite a sheltered view. I would consider my self an 'average person' and have found myself frequented with guards due no fault of my own, Iv never been in trouble with them and never have I been brought home by them, which pale in comparison to the many examples I have that are lengthy to list.

The most popular would be them hassling me walking home at night either from town or from work as I work a market on a different side of the world. The way they accost you and speak at you (not to you). They dont like educated 'knackers', someone who recites the constitution while refusing to answer a plethora of personal questions while not being attained for any particular reason. I know there are people who say that its easier to just answer them, but when they do this on a regular basis, that point is invalid. The law is there for a reason and it is in place for both the public and the defenders of the public to adhere to, not to abuse.

Yes there are genuine guards, I know someone who would be as perfect example, but one does not outweigh the amount of tools that I have had the unfortunate pleasure in dealing with through the need for them and uncalled for encounters. I have no pre disposition towards them all as a whole but unfortunately Iv had more bad than good to warrant being fully optimistic and having complete fate in them.

Guards & all medical personel etc should be payed more, so that it reflects positively towards performance etc. I know its sh*t but they could look towards a different career path. The choice is theirs alone but I feel that distain clearly shows in certain individual guards in certain situations.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I've been pulled in a few times for speeding

because I was driving too close to the car in front. But sure I was opening a bottle of water and box of panadol at the same time so God knows what I was at.

Hope I never meet you on the road!!

It has become less a police force and more of a fines enforcer these days. Heard a story on here around a year ago about a woman who called them over travellers or scumbags trespassing on her property which they never responded to due to no patrol car been available. Turned out they were literally down the road breathalysing drivers.

If you remember it please link it.

Mixed, almost like it’s a large non homogeneous organization made up of individuals. When I was younger it would’ve been overly negative, but now most are just straight forward formalities at checkpoints. Think I’ve had one bad experience and one where a Gard has gone above and beyond.

Similarly I deal with them on a daily basis professionally and it’s also mixed. If they are looking for information they are very polite and helpful and easy to contact. But if you reverse the role and suddenly they are on leave for days and nobody can contact them.

Some are also very quick to try and pull rank if they don’t get their own way, then get annoyed when it doesn’t work in that environment.