What to serving Guards think of the new Rosters,,

First Aid Ireland wrote: »

The reality is that all of us who work int he public sector almost always fall short when serving whatever community we serve. We get defensive about it (some more than others, and with reliable regularity) but the public are frustrated out there.

To Joe Public it's not acceptable that if they happen to be the victim of a crime when the garda is abot to go on leave, then the investigation halts there and then. I never knew that, and the people I told about it tonight were really surprised about it. I think the average person on the street thinks that it gets passed on and the next shift deals with it. there may be operational reasons for that. But it's not something that you would expect the public to just take at face value and not question it, because it sounds bizarre.

I've been embarrassed working in the public sector. So don't get me wrong. I know these shortfalls happen in all sectors. But we need to get past the point where we feel shocked and defensive when the public question us, or complain about us. Because the irish public by and large get a poor public service compared to other developed countries.

I'm afraid I simply disagree on the last bit....I'm actually of the opinion that given this Country's current status,the Irish Public are getting quite reasonable service from their public servants,including even some Gardai....:eek:

I have read this thread with a smile

As has been stated the OP's problem is not the new roster but the fact that he feels aggrieved by the fact he didn't get his property back when as he stated he was able to give the garda the id of the suspect within 24hours

for the OP - say the garda was still on duty for those four days and not resting he still would not have been able to just go out and pick up your suspect on your id alone, while ur id would help the investigation along there would still be a due process to follow to insure all actions are legal and fair( many people have fingered others for crimes and been wrong or based on revenge, so while your happy you know who it is its the garda who has to be sure) as a result another day or possibly two would be lost here. That is all assuming the garda is able to go straight onto your case. your case is one of stolen property, say the garda is also working on a case of sexual assault or even just assault, which case does he give priority? Something has to give so one case may sit on the backburner for a week or two, at the end of the day he has a good id on your man and he's going no where so he will get him eventually which brings me back to your real problem of not getting your stuff back, annoying and frustrating im sure but even if the garda was working you may not have got it back anyway.

As for your original question, i really like the new roster, i feel the time off gives me proper time to rest so when i do go back to work each week i don't feel drained and mentally and physically im in a good place to get on with things


Finally as for your comment on paying wages, please grow up. You pay tax as does everyone else, me included, does this mean i pay my own wages? As soon as you made this stupid comment you were immediately losing your argument and that of your target audience, i mean you asked the question so why feel the need to aggravate the people you are looking for responses from??? In future keep your silly comments to yourself

Re: Warrants.

I agree. There is no reason why court fines cant be deducted at source from social welfare payments or be deducted from peoples wages. Instead of people having Garda computer identity numbers they should be recorded by gardai using their PPS numbers. fines are then automatically deducted from payments/wages. this will work in the vast majority of cases in ireland

I know this is over, but I want to add my 2 cents for what it's worth.

This is a list of what a front-line Garda has to do:

Mobile patrol
Foot patrol
Station Orderly
Member in charge
Scene preservation
Point duty
Post duty
Communications
Files
Court
HSE meetings *
Council meetings *
Community meetings *
Prisoner transport
Out of division court *
Searches *
Public order *

That list is not exhaustive but shows the main duties the front-line Garda has to do. And in the interest of fairness it gets rotated so everyone gets their fair share of duties. Now, add 10+ investigations to this, ranging from low priority (most burglaries, public order, traffic) to high priority (most assaults, sexual crimes, child abuse,) and very little time to do them, combined with lack of transport/training, you might get a picture as to why a frontline Garda can't investigate everything immediately. Also, add on that injured parties can be slow to cooperate which slows down all investigations (by wasting time which could be spent on other investigations).

Of that list, a frontline Garda could do the first ten in 6 days, and lately gets less and less time to investigate in an ever increasing busy time with less and less resources. I'm against these new rotas, I'm wrecked on my days off one of which I don't consider a day off as I'm catching up on sleep for the most of it. The 60 hour weeks are, imo, too much to ask of already tired and swamped Gardai. There are less mandatory breaks availed of due to resources, which costs the state and wears down the Garda, and there are daily and numerous breaches of the European Working Time Directive. And, regardless of what you've heard or read, morale in the frontline is at an all time low.

These rotas would work, but not with the current resources. We need more Gardai, and anyone who doesn't see that is either oblivioys to the facts, or anti-Garda. And please don't use Dept of Justice references for morale/figures, or those of any Garda member above the rank of Sergeant, as they are suited to what that idiot Shatter wants to hear. Talk to a Garda, ir the GRA (bless, they're not even that great at the moment). I know plenty of members who would leave if they could.

This is all subjective of course, it may change division to division, or even station to station. But only the frontlibe Gardai can answer the thread question. OP: good attempt at another Garda bashing thread.