Should I write to the department of justice about this situation?

You'll have to follow along with this anecdote to have oversight on what "this situation" means.

Edit: warning - this is lengthy!!

.......

Few years ago whilst in a gym that showed little discretion about whom they gave membership to, a young man about my own age introduced himself to me. Kind of forcefully and out of the blue but, you know how it is, it's a gym and people sometimes strike up conversations so, we had an introduction and I thought nothing more of it.

Later I would come to find out he was a multiple time convicted offender. Nothing excessively serious, not like an arms importer or money-counterfeiter or something.

Crimes mostly related to alcohol use, drunken disorderly, petty crime, pretty theft, some violent assaults (one being he hit a foreign national over the back of the head with a rock, it was reported in a local paper) and anti-social conduct. He also has a relative he keeps close company with who has multiple criminal convictions and is known for - get this - stealing old ladies handbags.

He racked up enough checks on his record that he served I think two different terms in jail.

He seemed however to develop some kind of interest in myself that started actually previous to that initial introduction, for reasons I'm not quite sure but speculate on. He's what you call a local "billy bad ass", not employed, lives with family that is also unemployed in council allocated housing, chip on his shoulder and kind of fabricates this "bad boy" persona.

I don't want to go into too much detail to conserve anonymity but, basically at the time I was having success in combat sports, boxing mostly, and had acquired some recognition, strictly locally. That type of thing may catch the attention of the "billy bad ass" brigade, territorialism and what not. And the other factor was I was briefly dating a local traveller girl. I was in full time academics at that time, very clean living person - so for someone like myself to be dating a traveller, for better or worse that also seemed to raise some eyebrows amongst the local "tough guy" brigade.

So this individuals interest in me seemed to persist and it wasn't long before it turned ugly, some kind of resentment seemed to become apparent, and he would persistently regard me disrespectfully and that in turn descended into insults.

He unfortunately learned where I lived (just by proximity, he'd see me enter/exit the residence), and one morning I noticed the tire on my mode of transport was cut open using a blade.

Low and behold, who was in the vicinity after a night of alcohol consumption, that very same person (I don't have video evidence but he saw me park in that spot multiple times, knew the vehicle was mine, and he was two streets over, drunk, 20 minutes after I noticed the tire was slashed).

His series of convictions continued since, and one conviction was for carrying a concealed weapon, a knife; go figure.

I reported the tire slashing to the local garda station but without video evidence, nothing doing. There was camera trained on the parking spot, but later I would learn about 50% of the apartment complex cameras don't work.

....

So this goes on and on and honestly it's getting to the point it's clear what he's trying to do is bait me into a confrontation in the street.

I think because he knows, he has so many convictions, a confrontation will be nothing for him, but for me it could mean a criminal record (which he already has) - which can completely turn your future upside down.

Based on this, I compiled a comprehensive 5 page written report of the entire history and was given a consultation with a local garda, at which we discussed everything for about one hour, and came to the conclusion that they had nothing to act on then, but if something arose in future I should report it.

......

Few weeks ago I was again confronted by this person. I go into hypervigilance mode when this happens cause I know what is potentially at stake. He said something disrespectful and when I did not acknowledge or respond, he ducked around a corner and seemed to be waiting to jump me, or confront or accost me or something. I only happened to notice this as the edge of his sleeve was barely visible from around the corner, but he was basically hiding, as a means to physically engage me I had to assume.

Noticing this and understanding what was at stake, I change direction and find a different path to get where I was going (the shops).

Low and behold, 10 minutes later who do I bump into only the same dirt box, he sees me in a shop, beelines for me and knocks into me with his shoulder. I step away to avoid but he still clips me, obvious confrontation.

So following this, I bell up the same police officer to explain what I felt was this malignant possibly hiding to pull and knife on me (so I would assume, he was convicted for knife carrying previously, and hid around a corner to lynch me, 2 + 2.... etc), and then barrelling into me in a public shop (I knew he would have been too clever to pull out a knife there of course, witnesses/cameras = immediate conviction, but in a secluded side street, probability was much higher).

Officer tells me, without any actual wrong doing having taken place, their hands are tied, no apprehension can be made or action taken.

........

I'm at a loss. What am I, supposed to wait until I get stabbed or have to physically defend myself before police can act on the matter?

I'm not here for "personal advice". I'm trying to understand as a matter of law, what are my options?

He's a clever little crawler, as I see it. He knows not to cross a certain line (at least so far), he knows his rights, the police officer said they are "monitoring him" due to the number of convictions he has and I asked, "do you pat him down for a blade whilst monitoring him?", to which there was no answer.

........

Any thoughts?

Is the officer in question here being negligent? Does it justify a letter to the justice department? And would such correspondence even be acknowledge?

Or is this just a by product of living in a certain type of area with a certain type of person, and just have to put-up-and-shut-up?