Uniformed Garda Armed

Gunnerkid · 01-05-2011 04:23PM #1

So with increasing rates of crimes where guns have been involved should uniformed Gaurds be armed in order to protect themselves and others?? or is it a bad idea that could lead to Garda enforcing the law more so with what is strapped to their belt.

Big Nasty · 01-05-2011 04:23PM

Yes

hondasam · 01-05-2011 04:24PM

No not all of them.

yoshytoshy · 01-05-2011 04:28PM

I'd rather more gards than guns ,a gun won't stop crime.

Biggins · 01-05-2011 04:29PM

Yes, IF they individually want that option.
There is some occasions when they would clearly have to be, otherwise there should be choice of some kind beyond that.

Its a tough question that still lingers on.

Spunge · 01-05-2011 04:29PM

I enjoy whittling on the street while not being shot, so no thanks.

dr gonzo · 01-05-2011 04:29PM

Tough call but with proper, consistant training like the netherlands theres no reason why they couldnt be. They would certainly be taken more seriously and be a much more formidable image in tackling serious street crime.

Then again i dont know if its really all that necessary, they shouldnt be arbitrarily issued weapons. Perhaps pepper spray is enough for the vast majority of them.

talla10 · 01-05-2011 04:30PM

Not all Gardai should be armed but i do believe they should have non lethal weapons such as taser along with the baton and spray they carry.

dr gonzo · 01-05-2011 04:31PM

Biggins wrote: »

Yes, IF they individually want that option.
There is some occasions when they would clearly have to be, otherwise there should be choice of some kind beyond that.

Its a tough question that still lingers on.

Then again, are the guards that want guns really the ones that we want to have guns... if that makes sense?

I dont the kind of people who would go out of their way to ask for one is really the person i want to have one, there would have to be some sort of system by which the garda admin can determine which uniforms are at the most risk.

MagicMarker · 01-05-2011 04:31PM

By all means have specialized armed units, but every single Gardai? No. Not when there are alternatives such as tazers etc...

Gunnerkid · 01-05-2011 04:35PM

MagicMarker wrote: »

By all means have specialized armed units, but every single Gardai? No. Not when there are alternatives such as tazers etc...

however I would have to say that studies in the US have shown the police their are more prone to using their taser gun on a individual rather then unholstering their gun. Also apparently police studied in the US were more likely to excessively use force with a taser when there was no need for such a action

JohnathanM · 01-05-2011 04:36PM

Spunge wrote: »

I enjoy whittling on the street while not being shot, so no thanks.

Referring to the deaf guy shot from behind in Seattle? Horrible, that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpjFsmTDWuQ

The problem with giving people guns, is that they aren't always going to use them responsibly. The situation in this country is nowhere near serious enough to warrant an all-armed police force.

Gunnerkid · 01-05-2011 04:38PM

JohnathanM wrote: »

Referring to the deaf guy shot from behind in Seattle? Horrible, that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpjFsmTDWuQ

The problem with giving people guns, is that they aren't always going to use them responsibly. The situation in this country is nowhere near serious enough to warrant an all-armed police force.

why was he carrying a knife???

01-05-2011 04:40PM

No way. While I'm sure there are plenty of sensible, honest gardai out there, I wouldn't trust them enough to give them guns. In fact, no matter what profession it is, I think it's ridiculous to take an entire profession and arm them. There's always going to be a few idiots in any bunch, in this case probably more than a few. Plus there are some who join the gardai for the power kick. I'd say if we armed them there'd be an influx of young lads who like the idea of hauling a firearm round with them.

There's also the argument that while we have a lot of knife crime, and some gun crime, if we arm our gardai, criminal organisations will start arming their people too. I'd rather knife crime than gun crime. It's a stepping stone, whereby criminal organisations will be more interested in guns, then your garden variety scumbag will want a gun, then the public will start wanting guns. I know it sounds a bit hysterical, but seriously, guns would become far more commonplace.

Also, mistakes happen. Arresting someone by mistake is one thing, shooting someone? No thanks.

JohnathanM · 01-05-2011 04:41PM

Gunnerkid wrote: »

why was he carrying a knife???

I know! Can you imagine having the audacity to hold a small knife and be seen clearly whittling a piece of wood? Who did he think he was, keeping himself to himself and posing absolutely no threat to anybody? What a f'er!

Spunge · 01-05-2011 04:41PM

JohnathanM wrote: »

Referring to the deaf guy shot from behind in Seattle? Horrible, that.

Whoa, he was deaf ?

Gunnerkid · 01-05-2011 04:44PM

JohnathanM wrote: »

I know! Can you imagine having the audacity to hold a small knife and be seen clearly whittling a piece of wood? Who did he think he was, keeping himself to himself and posing absolutely no threat to anybody? What a f'er!

obviously the police officers response was completely disgusting and he deserves to be arrested for it but I didn't see the piece of wood you say he was carving and I dont know the full story to the video

Biggins · 01-05-2011 04:44PM

Just out of curiosity (I don't know so I ask), are all British police armed?
...And if not, of those that are, how many innocent people have been killed proportion-wise in relation to numbers of population?
I know one life is too many but to think that Gardi will all just go on power trips might be pushing it a bit?
(Yes there WILL be a few of course, its unavoidable)

Thrill · 01-05-2011 04:45PM

Gunnerkid wrote: »

why was he carrying a knife???

The guy was a woodcarver. He was whittling on a piece of wood.

JohnathanM · 01-05-2011 04:46PM

Spunge wrote: »

Whoa, he was deaf ?

When I read around at the time I heard that he was deaf, which is why he he didn't turn around when the officer called him. Looking again, it seems that was the case in one ear:

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/12/18/16603076.html

To be honest, I don't personally care if the fella was simply ignoring him. Not a reason to kill somebody.

hondasam · 01-05-2011 04:46PM

Biggins wrote: »

Just out of curiosity (I don't know so I ask), are all British police armed?
...And if not, of those that are, how many innocent people have been killed proportion-wise in relation to numbers of population?
I know one life is too many but to think that Gardi will all just go on power trips might be pushing it a bit?
(Yes there WILL be a few of course, its unavoidable)

No they are not armed.

Big Nasty · 01-05-2011 04:48PM

There's too many dirty scroates in this country with no respect or fear of the law.

Gunnerkid · 01-05-2011 04:48PM

Biggins wrote: »

Just out of curiosity (I don't know so I ask), are all British police armed?
...And if not, of those that are, how many innocent people have been killed proportion-wise in relation to numbers of population?
I know one life is too many but to think that Gardi will all just go on power trips might be pushing it a bit?
(Yes there WILL be a few of course, its unavoidable)

Apparently a lot of countries that allow their police force to be armed have less gun violations with officers then the USA, Not all of the UK police force is armed, Northern Ireland is the only exception in terms of arming regular uniformed police.

LizT · 01-05-2011 04:48PM

I can see pros and cons. Obviously the system could be open to abuse and would no doubt result in unnecessary deaths.

But I was watching crimecall the other night and there was one lone garda sent to investigate suspicious activity at a post office (which was being robbed at the time). As far as I remember, the raiders were armed and he approached the house with just his baton. There was nothing to stop them blowing his head off, which thank god they didn't do.

It's the same with a lot of situations where the number of civilians (such as in riot, protests that go wrong etc.) far outnumber the gardai. They look a bit stupid standing there with just a baton to protect themselves.

Dangerous Man · 01-05-2011 04:52PM

At present - absolutely not. Our police force is badly run, badly trained, and unmotivated to do their job. There's no way in hell I'd give the average Irish police officer a pistol. Remember the May Day 'Reclaim the streets' protest in Dublin a few years ago? Our brave police force indiscriminately cracking skulls on Dame street. A number of tourists, who were innocent bystanders were beaten by our professional police service. How many times have we seen cases of prisoners, particularly young, troubled prisoners, mysteriously dying in custody?

We have a police force that is great at going after the little guy, but utterly useless when it comes to detecting actual crime; the fact that we have virtual 'no go' areas in our society is a testament to the ineffectiveness of our police force.

Arming these guys is not a viable option. The Gardai should be stood down and a modern police force put in its place.

Micky Dolenz · 01-05-2011 04:54PM

We can hardy afford proper communication devices, never mind guns.

tayto lover · 01-05-2011 04:55PM

I would not like to see Gardai carrying guns while in uniform. There should be specialist units for this as in other countries.

ART6 · 01-05-2011 04:56PM

The problem, as I see it, is that if Gardai were to be armed, then I assume all of them would be whether or not they were psychologically suitable to carry lethal weapons. I would guess we have all heard of Gardai who were officious, quick tempered, in a bad humour or whatever (much like the rest of us humans). Would we want some of them waving such weapons around?

Then, how would they all be trained? A pistol in untrained hands is almost a weapon of mass destruction. What happens if a Garda who couldn't hit a barn from the inside was given a weapon and killed a bystander? The press would have a field day and recriminations would become hysterical. Without a weapon a Garda has to try to defuse a situation rather than resolving it by drawing a gun.

In countries like the USA the police are armed, and they don't have that good a record either even though they are trained to a high degree and have firing ranges at which they have to polish their skill. Could we afford that?

The Gardai have a dangerous job, and whatever we individually feel about them when they pull us for exceeding a speed limit all us citizens would be at very great risk without them. Therefore, instead of copping out and saying "Let's arm them" we should be supporting them. We should be demanding that if any criminal resorts to a lethal weapon to further his crime, then he will be locked away for a very long period until he is no longer capable of being a threat to society. If anyone injures a Garda then he should spend a long jail term without any option of remission. If he kills a Garda then he should only leave prison horizontally in a box.

Oh I know our economy is screwed and we can no longer afford even ministerial limos, but some things are fundamental to civilised societies. Prisons for the wrong-doers to keep them from doing it again are as essential as water and electricity supplies.

So no. I don't support arming the AGS

Gunnerkid · 01-05-2011 04:56PM

Dangerous Man wrote: »

At present - absolutely not. Our police force is badly run, badly trained, and unmotivated to do their job. There's no way in hell I'd give the average Irish police officer a pistol. Remember the May Day 'Reclaim the streets' protest in Dublin a few years ago? Our brave police force indiscriminately cracking skulls on Dame street. A number of tourists, who were innocent bystanders were beaten by our professional police service. How many times have we seen cases of prisoners, particularly young, troubled prisoners, mysteriously dying in custody?

We have a police force that is great at going after the little guy, but utterly useless when it comes to detecting actual crime; the fact that we have virtual 'no go' areas in our society is a testament to the ineffectiveness of our police force.

Arming these guys is not a viable option. The Gardai should be stood down and a modern police force put in its place.

would definitely have to agree with you on all your points, there should also be some form of sociological test established to see which potential recruits are safe to have as officers and which ones are not

Thrill · 01-05-2011 04:56PM

lizt wrote: »

But I was watching crimecall the other night and there was one lone garda sent to investigate suspicious activity at a post office (which was being robbed at the time). As far as I remember, the raiders were armed and he approached the house with just his baton. There was nothing to stop them blowing his head off, which thank god they didn't do.

The other side of the coin is that if the Garda was armed then they probably would have blown his head off.

yoshytoshy · 01-05-2011 04:56PM

tayto lover wrote: »

I would not like to see Gardai carrying guns while in uniform. There should be specialist units for this as in other countries.

There is already though surely ? ,I've often seen lads wearing red vests and machine guns across their chests out near blanchardstown.

Uniformed Garda Armed

Should uniformed Gaurds be armed 97 votes

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