Garda on Primetime

Originally posted by SuperStudent
Fair played to you. :rolleyes:

It's pretty obvious that foriegn countrys have the same issue. The U.S has recently
had it's race problem with the Police brought to headline news. The U.K has problems too with racial discrimination and abuse of powers, but the issue I think here is that these thicks in the Gardai are walking away from it all like nothing every happened. I can't beleive they are not being punished it's worrying.

"2. Ill-treatment


11. Many of the persons interviewed by the CPT’s delegation about their experience while in police custody stated that they had been correctly treated by the police.

However, a not inconsiderable number of persons claimed that they had been physically ill-treated by police officers (Gardaí). Most of the allegations received concerned the time of arrest, including after the detained person had been brought under control, or during transport to a police station; some complaints related to ill-treatment in cells or detention areas in police stations. In certain cases the ill-treatment alleged was said to have been inflicted by officers trying to obtain information or secure a confession from the detained person.

The allegations involved in the main blows with batons, as well as kicks and punches to various parts of the body. On occasion, the ill-treatment alleged was of a severe nature. In a few cases, the delegation was told that the ill-treatment had been administered in such a way as to avoid leaving visible marks, e.g. baton blows to a telephone directory placed against the detainee’s head or pressure with a baton behind the knee.

12. The number and consistency of the allegations of ill-treatment heard by the delegation lend them credibility. Moreover, in some cases, the delegation’s doctors gathered medical evidence consistent with the allegations received. By way of example, the CPT would like to make reference to the following cases:

One person interviewed in Cork Prison alleged that, the day before, four or five police officers had dragged him down the stairs at the Anglesea Street police facilities and repeatedly struck him with batons. Following his arrival at Cork, the prison doctor had noted “4 fresh marks on back, prior to committal”. Upon medical examination by the delegation’s doctors, the person concerned was found to display two recent red horizontal bruises measuring approximately 3 x 9 cm, respectively in the left and right upper lumbar/kidney area, and a further similar bruise in the left shoulder region; he also displayed a number of abrasions and smaller bruises on the legs.

One person interviewed in Cloverhill Prison alleged that, a few days earlier, at the time of his arrest, the police had twisted his wrist and that, subsequently, at Store Street Garda Station, a police officer had delivered several baton blows in the direction of his head which he had stopped with his left arm. The police reported no physical force/violence or injuries at any time of this person’s custody, and the doctor who examined him on police premises approximately five hours after his arrest only found handcuff marks on the right wrist and injection marks on the lower arms. However, during medical screening on arrival in prison the following morning, he was found to display “superficial haematomas and contusions on the lower left arm”. A medical examination by the delegation’s doctors revealed a purple 6 x 3 cm haematoma along the antero-external face of the lower left arm in the proximity of the elbow and, next to it, another haematoma of similar size and characteristics.

Another person (who at the time of the visit was no longer deprived of his liberty) interviewed by the delegation in Dublin alleged that, one week previously, the police had treated him roughly at the time of his arrest and that, subsequently, at Store Street Garda Station, police officers had assaulted him several times (kicks to the legs and blows to the head) and that, on one occasion, while he was being manually restrained, an officer had struck him six or seven times on the right thigh with a baton. He claimed that, despite his requests, he had not been medically examined during custody. A medical examination by the delegation’s doctors revealed a yellowish 4 x 2 cm haematoma on the right thigh in the proximity of the groin, a yellow and red 10 x 8 cm haematoma with a blue central part on the middle section of the right thigh, a similar 7 x 7 cm haematoma immediately above the right knee, and a further 6 x 3 cm haematoma on the inner part of the central section of the lower right leg; he displayed a number of other smaller bruises on both legs.

It should also be noted that, in certain of the cases examined during the visit, other evidence gathered by the CPT’s delegation (e.g. from custody records, information provided by police officers) tended to support the allegations of ill-treatment received."

17. Several of the allegations heard by the CPT's delegation related to Finglas Garda Station in Dublin. In consequence, the delegation decided to carry out a visit to that establishment. In the course of the visit, the delegation discovered a large number of non standard-issue weapons in the areas and, more particularly, in the desk drawers and lockers, used by the detective unit based there.
Those items included various home-made wooden batons (quite unlike ordinary police truncheons) and a variety of real and replica guns (e.g. two sawn-off shotguns, a pipe pistol, a bolt gun, a replica of a Beretta 9mm pistol) several hunting knives, and a short, leather-covered metal cosh.

18. It was advanced by police officers that the above-mentioned items had been confiscated from detainees and would be, or had been, produced in court as evidence. However, both the fact that none of those items bore labels or other means of identification, and the fact that they were found in drawers and lockers in different parts of the police station, undermines the credibility of that contention, as does the fact that certain other items, labelled as evidence, were found in a property store.