How much faith do you have in An Garda Siochana as law enforcement officials?

bo0li5eumx12kp · 31-12-2020 5:06pm #1

This is not a thread to slate law enforcement.

Like every industry, it's comprised of some decent, some morally ambiguous, and possibly the occasional slimeball?

It's a thread to get YOUR personal perspective on Irish law enforcement, your faith in them should you encounter a situation that requires their attention.

Additionally, as I see it, it's not like it's one big mother brain through which every officials policy is determined.

According to each county as I understand it, is divided according to its own locale or district office, perhaps with sub-district offices depending on size of the area being covered etc.

I'm a believer in the "group consciousness" theory and therefore, way I see it is, each district office is probably going to have its own local "heard mentality" way of policing, and then each individual officer may do things subsequently slightly unique to themselves.

Generally they must enforce the laws set out by Irish cabinet but specifically as to their individual "means" of law enforcement, that's the kind of paradigm as I envisage it.

......

I knew a dude as a kid (same year, different class) who used to sell fireworks around Halloween, hustle some marijuana at kids disco's (an Irish juvenile Pablo Escaber giving it large), generally play jack the lad in social circles - and recently saw him on "on the beat" - lol.

I'm sorry it just the irony makes me laugh.

I'm sure such individuals rise to the occasion of their job role, but I've had so many superficial encounters with Irish law enforcement that'd make me question at least some officials in that capacity also.

I'm sure ya'll have too.

AmIRite?

Edgware · 31-12-2020 6:07pm

There are Gardai who in their younger days were cautioned under the Garda Juvenile Diversion schemes. Indeed there are many many people who are now responsible citizens who benefitted fromthe Juvenile scheme and escaped prosecution. The fact that they didnt carry on misbehaving points to the success of such schemes. If we were still in the 1960s they would have been sent to Daingean or Artane.
Maybe I am wrong but I think that a young lad or girl who were a bit "bold" in their teenage years might make better police officers than some goody goody type.
I remember our local Sergeant telling my father that he loved seeing a new recruit that had worked as a barman, bus driver or maybe in England. He reckoned that these lads knew what the ordinary person had to put up with and would handle people better than some self righteous lad with no experience of the world.

dzsfah2xoynme9 · 31-12-2020 6:07pm

They did an excellent job yesterday with that knife wielding scumbag.

31-12-2020 6:14pm

Big fan of Gardaí here. Great lads and lasses doing an often difficult job under constant scrutiny and never ending criticism from every arsehole with a smartphone and an opinion.

I think they’re the finest of men and women, for the most part. Decent people who want to serve their communities and deal with those who would hurt same.

Snotty · 31-12-2020 6:20pm

I can only really comment on the interactions I've had with them, which have all been either neutral or positive, if i treated them with respect they showed the same respect back, no complaints.

Captain Lugger · 31-12-2020 6:24pm

Generally positive. Some during the onset of the pandemic were a little too bouncer like in their mentality but that tapered off over time.

Smee_Again · 31-12-2020 6:25pm

I have faith that if I was a victim of a serious crime they would do their best to find the perpetrator.

For anything else I have very little faith in them, they just don’t seem interested.

boombang · 31-12-2020 6:29pm

Faith in an individual vs the system is an important distinction.

My faith in an individual Guard in dealing with any given situation - medium/high.

My faith in the service as a whole to deal with something 'awkward' like Garda malpractice - very low.

badabing106 · 31-12-2020 6:55pm

Mckenna Obnoxious Cream wrote: »

They did an excellent job yesterday with that knife wielding scumbag.

That being said. Hopefully an independent review takes place

Edgware · 31-12-2020 7:45pm

badabing106 wrote: »

That being said. Hopefully an independent review takes place

Isnt that what G.S.O.C. is for? Garda investigating Garda days are gone.
Of course there will always be a minority who wont accept the decision of an independent body unless it meets their opinion/agenda.

fredt · 31-12-2020 7:46pm

I'm very wary of them. They are a hammer that tends to see everything as a nail.

jelem · 31-12-2020 8:46pm

Good and Bad and a lot of purposefully blind ones as regards persons of authority\power.
Like the judiciary there is an urgent need to seperate the garda from the politicians\government
and a mix of citizen\garda\government oversight board.
A previous post i announced profile of Arrogant and somehow they tend to claim "unspoken" to all
being time served barristers whilst simple question has them acting like you attacked them.
It is clear other eu countries do charge and jail the likes of lords\peers\government ministers\judges\
top police etc. which in ireland seems either extremely rare or well hidden.
judiciary and police force seperated from government and eu legislation and law along with irish state
legislation and law Apply to all.
****************
Failings -- as an example to show and see if anyone can answer "any legal fraternity looking in" ,
Article 19 criminal justice act

just how does an irish citizen find out if a person in postition
of power\authority has reported to garda what they have been made aware of?

Jimbob1977 · 31-12-2020 8:53pm

How many countries in the world have an unarmed "rank and file" police force?

We are doing very well, compared to many many countries

31-12-2020 8:55pm

Fairly positive. They have a tough job and are underfunded and understaffed.

Mr. Incognito · 31-12-2020 10:39pm

I have a lot more faith in them then kids who should be controlled by their parents in a lockdown roaming ferral in the streets

The_Brood · 31-12-2020 10:53pm

I'm not sure what the question is. The problem is not that they are failing to carry out their duties, it's that their powers are absurdly, comically limited. America gets, often rightfully, criticized for how much gung-ho and free of repercussions their police force is, but the problem is the exact opposite here and it's just as unacceptable, although it gets no media attention.

It's scandalous I suppose when a cop in America does something unlawful, but people getting attacked and threatened with knives in broad daylight because attackers know the gardai are powerless to do anything, such as the case in Dublin for instance, should not be tolerated by a civilized society. Murderers getting a slap on the wrist and a handful of years because the justice system protects them instead of victims should not be tolerated. Yet it is.

It's sick what happens to people here, and even sicker are voters who continue empowering parties who don't want this to change.

I Am The Law · 31-12-2020 10:55pm

No, no faith, but it's not the fault of the individual humans, we need to take control.

6o9fv7jpreb180 · 31-12-2020 11:02pm

Never had any interactions with them while they are on duty .

I used to work in a hotel, and there was one female garda who would occasionally come in with her husband (who is a complete dose) and young child.. would get absolutely loaded, stay way past closing and then drive home ( 5 minutes away). Not saying this is commonplace, just my experience.

I think some gardaí in general have a very tough job, young gardaí dealing with the dregs of society. They should definitely be given extra resources and numbers.

No one ****s with police on the continent and would love to see it here. Any scumbags ****acting, whack across the head, and no need for twitter to erupt

.anon. · 01-01-2021 4:13am

Not much.

A lot of people on here have great big hard-ons for authority. I don't share their unquestioning reverence for the Gardai. I've rarely met one (even the 'good' ones) who didn't make me feel that maybe the entry requirements could be a great deal more stringent.

bo0li5eumx12kp · 01-01-2021 7:38am

.anon. wrote: »

Not much.

A lot of people on here have great big hard-ons for authority. I don't share their unquestioning reverence for the Gardai. I've rarely met one (even the 'good' ones) who didn't make me feel that maybe the entry requirements could be a great deal more stringent.

I guess that's the point I was making.

It's a job role.

A job most educated people aren't going to want to do.

The aforementioned sentiment - the majority I meet are the type who weren't exactly top of their class, landed a respectable enough position in A.G.S. and I guess we're waiting for them to rise to the occasion of their responsibility laden job position.

My own personal take on A.G.S. is, only contact when absolutely necessary, and have ALL ducks in a row when filing a report, cause you don't want to be depending on Johnny-bad-ass back in the school days to be writing up an articulate report for the judiciary to review.

Pcgamer · 01-01-2021 8:48am

I would say 80% of them are absoloutly fine.

There's some of them who are high horse pricks who would summons there own family if they got half a chance.

Darc19 · 01-01-2021 8:55am

Mckenna Obnoxious Cream wrote: »

They did an excellent job yesterday with that knife wielding scumbag.

American style killing.

Yeah, great if you want to go the trump route.

corner of hells · 01-01-2021 10:21am

Darc19 wrote: »

American style killing.

Yeah, great if you want to go the trump route.

6 fatal shootings in 22 years according to the Indo.

ExMachina1000 · 01-01-2021 10:28am

The younger Gardai are power tripping little shítes while those who have been in the force a long time >10 years tend to be alright.

The standard uniform is horrendous making them look more police academy than police force.

The armed response boys are big intimidating looking individuals. Their uniform is military esque

01-01-2021 10:46am

variable with individual gardai, I appreciate they are up against it when dealing with judiciary and scum, but I think they should be more reasonable with law abiding citizens, and less tolerant of scum. For the likes of that chap who allegedly ( and it looks very likely) committed robbery at a few locations, assaulted a few people, also with a weapon, in their own community, then threatened uniformed (unarmed) gardai and then armed gardai, not sure why anyone would expect any other outcome, which was driven by the person themself. Cant have lawlessness and it needs to be seen that it will be dealt with, any complaints to the contrary are like an attack lashing out at all of society. The educational oppurtunities in this country for people lower on the social end of things are a huge leg up to change your circumstances. That society/the gardai have to deal with the same stuff ongoing is ridiculous, really need to start fining people for offences of assault/theft/property damage and lock them away as they are going to be a constant drain on society and resourves that otgers could benefit. Gardai could be reformed but we need them, or we will have anarchy with the likes of knife wielding scum roaming society taking what they please.

cursai · 01-01-2021 10:56am

I hate all authority. I drive through lollipop ladies direction. Power hungry bitches.
Down with authority.
Up with imagination.

raven41 · 01-01-2021 11:13am

Generally speaking I find them fine to deal with as individuals. Guards manning the covid checkpoints were generally polite and well mannered. I always get the sense I was talking to an individual and not just the uniform.
As a collective force, I think at best they are ineffective at best and incompetent at worst. No real roads policing to speak of, just the odd speed trap and a lot of these are sublet out to private contractors now. Zero transport police, very little presence on our cities main thoroughfares and come pub closing time (remember that) they are usually nowhere to be found. Open air drug dealing is done brazenly and the none too subtle waft of marijuana is obvious in heavy traffic.
E scooter supposed to be a mechanically propelled vehicle but yet largely ignored. Fireworks are supposed to be illegal but again nothing done about that. When going to a garda station with a complaint the response is usually "that would be a civil matter". No internet in stations and their equipment is woefully not up to scratch. Its all trivial stuff in the overall scheme of things but its only when you have been abroad you see just how little actual policing there is compared to our international counterparts. Suppose as a nation we are an accepting lot and collectively shrug our shoulders along the lines of "shure what can you do"

kildare lad · 01-01-2021 11:36am

As someone who has an uncle as a Garda and I went to school or played football with 3 others , I know how tough of a job they have . How about slamming all the wasters that are parents who've allowed their kids to run amok or the useless judges who hand out mickey mouse sentences . It must be very frustrating to bring someone to court , they've multiple convictions and the judge gives them a slap on the wrists.

riffmongous · 01-01-2021 11:39am

Never really had much interaction with the ordinary ones, as they're never around when you need them.

Wibbs · 01-01-2021 11:39am

They need more funding and the internal culture can be problematic at times(I know a couple of now ex Guards who threw in the towel over some of the nonsense) and crimes against property tend to get little but sympathy, but in my dealings with them overall with a tiny handful of exceptions I found them fine.

magicbastarder · 01-01-2021 11:45am

Generally I've had no issues, with the only notable exception was the one time I actually was past the front desk at a station - to give a statement on an RTC where i'd been the person who rang the emergency services. the Garda who had attended and taken notes at the scene was trying to stitch up the driver by claiming myself and my wife had told him things the exact opposite of what we'd said.

How much faith do you have in An Garda Siochana as law enforcement officials?

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