Garda quits force & discloses disgraceful management

blondie29 · 06-08-2012 01:44AM #1

http://www.sundayworld.com/columnists/sw-irish-crime.php

'Garda rank & vile' is headline in Sunday world where Garda Niall O'Connor leaves the force after 5 years, disclosing the pressures frontline gardai are left to deal with no backup of management or funding from our Government, while also discussing the ridiculous situations of criminals walking free from court.

I think its disgraceful how gardai are meant to carry out their duties..their management is a joke. No other police force are treated like this. Will it get worse than this??

im invisible · 06-08-2012 01:46AM

Yes

mikom · 06-08-2012 01:54AM

blondie29 wrote: »

Will it get worse than this??

What next?
Somebody'll be murdered, and then where are we?
Drive-by shootings in the night: it'll be like 'Boyz N The Hood'.
And then we'll have whores selling their wares in the street.
And the pimps'll be using crack to keep the whores under control.

DesperateDan · 06-08-2012 01:55AM

Wow that website is silly. I'm glad I don't read that paper. Guards should always have the resources they need though, don't think anyone will argue with that

barney 20v · 06-08-2012 02:01AM

Is any of this really new though? criminals walking free form court? no way!

Looks to me like the former Garda got in over his head and did not research all that the role entails on a day to day basis,which considering his former career in journalism i find hard to understand.
The Gardai are underfunded and over stretched , old news in fairness
They deal with the worst in society and Mr O'Connor Knew this surely?
I read the story in the sunday world and it smacks a bit of someone trying to re-establish a career in journalism to me,nothing more.

miller50841 · 06-08-2012 02:02AM

Fair play to him for telling it how it is.
Sorry to see a good decent hard working cop leave and sure more will probably follow.

This country is becoming a joke and are legal system is a complete mess and from my experience also it's on the side of the criminal.

There is nothing there to put the bad people off repeating

Morlar · 06-08-2012 02:05AM

That's an interesting article, pretty much what most people think but you never get to see in print:

I watched news reports from this year's Garda Representative Association Conference when Minister for Justice Alan Shatter stood up and said that there was "every reason for morale to be high" in An Garda Siochana. Gardaí in my station took this as a direct insult, a "let them eat cake" moment by a barrister who has made money by participating in a failed judicial system.

I have sat in court and saw notorious criminals walk free on suspended sentences. Their solicitors telling judges that they suffer from drugs and drink problems that caused them to commit their crimes. The man who attacked me with the sword received a nine-month suspended jail term, his solicitor arguing that his client attacked the garda and his own kids because he couldn't handle the drink.

Solicitors are allowed, with impunity, to ask for adjournments so that quasi probation reports can be obtained and no-one questions the expenses. The accused was, more often than not, caught red handed. Why should his solicitor string out the process to make more and more money from the Legal Aid system? The simple answer is that the legal system is weighted in favour of the criminal.

drunkmonkey · 06-08-2012 02:19AM

Did he write most of that himself? Not much of a Journalist either.

Shryke · 06-08-2012 02:19AM

He says he was a journalist before joining the force. Bit of a trashy read.
The funding should be there, no messing about, but he seems to have a chip on his shoulder for not getting enough thanks for the job he was doing which isn't the attitude to have. You do the job full stop.
Gardai need proper support but this lad just quit altogether. He found out there were budgets and bureaucracy and quit. If it was a job he loved he could have tried to effect change.
A lot of peoples experiences with the gardai are less than stellar my own included so I don't know if this will garner much sympathy.

Riddle101 · 06-08-2012 02:50AM

Sounds like the Gardaí are as bad as the Army when it comes to funding. Guess we'll just have to add it to the list so.

le la rat · 06-08-2012 02:51AM

blondie29 wrote: »

http://www.sundayworld.com/columnists/sw-irish-crime.php

'Garda rank & vile' is headline in Sunday world where Garda Niall O'Connor leaves the force after 5 years, disclosing the pressures frontline gardai are left to deal with no backup of management or funding from our Government, while also discussing the ridiculous situations of criminals walking free from court.

I think its disgraceful how gardai are meant to carry out their duties..their management is a joke. No other police force are treated like this. Will it get worse than this??

Have ya Drink Taken?

tin79 · 06-08-2012 02:59AM

blondie29 wrote: »

No other police force are treated like this.

And you know this from your years of research into every police force in the world do you?

By the way they prefer to use "service" now rather than "force". Official vocab guidelines state that "force" is too aggressive.

06-08-2012 03:12AM

Whilst I agree with the sentiment of the article, why does it have to be written in such a sensationalist disaster 'end of the world' style? Completely ruins it.

archer22 · 06-08-2012 03:30AM

Just some pussy in a blue uniform whinging...whats new!.

starviewadams · 06-08-2012 03:39AM

I'm surprised that a 'journalist' was shocked at what life as a beat Garda is like.

He'd rather jack in a pensionable job without trying to effect change,whilst leaving his under resouced work mates a man down in order to write for a rag like the Sunday World?the whole truth's not being told here I'd say.

mathepac · 06-08-2012 09:34AM

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Did he write most of that himself? Not much of a Journalist either.

To be fair to him neither are the editors at Sunday's Worst. He could be Shakespeare and the the editors would still have to dumb his copy down to their own level.

later12 · 06-08-2012 10:54AM

DesperateDan wrote: »

Guards should always have the resources they need

Should they though? I'm genuinely asking btw.

I mean there is a limit to what we can afford. We cannot just allocate unlimited resources to deal with all offences and transgressions of the statute books.

Whilst I believe that Gardai may well be stretched to an unreasonable degree, I think the notion that they should "always have the resources they need" is unattainable.

Gardai need to prioritise their work in the object of maintaining social and civil order by degree of importance.

To my mind, this does not include bog inspections, parking offences, and yes, maybe even going 'on the beat' (remember the Garda Reserve...?)

Pappa Charlie · 06-08-2012 11:19AM

later12 wrote: »

Should they though? I'm genuinely asking btw.

I mean there is a limit to what we can afford. We cannot just allocate unlimited resources to deal with all offences and transgressions of the statute books.

Whilst I believe that Gardai may well be stretched to an unreasonable degree, I think the notion that they should "always have the resources they need" is unattainable.

Gardai need to prioritise their work in the object of maintaining social and civil order by degree of importance.

To my mind, this does not include bog inspections, parking offences, and yes, maybe even going 'on the beat' (remember the Garda Reserve...?)

Thats all fine and well but what might not be important to you may be a law another minister or member of the public wants wants enforced and Gardai cannot always tell them to feck off I'm busy with crime investigation. Maintaining social and cilvil order is a priority but the resources available now mean priorities cannot be gauranteed, this government will run the force into the ground and it will be the public and decent people who will ultimately suffer, however if your game is crime, happy days! Shatter reminds me of Comical Ali

Milk & Honey · 06-08-2012 11:22AM

He gave the game away at the end. Criminals are being caught at the end of shifts. He then complains that they don't get overtime to investigate further. Why don't they catch the criminals at the beginning of the shifts and save the state money?

Pappa Charlie · 06-08-2012 11:37AM

Milk & Honey wrote: »

He gave the game away at the end. Criminals are being caught at the end of shifts. He then complains that they don't get overtime to investigate further. Why don't they catch the criminals at the beginning of the shifts and save the state money?

Maybe if Garda management met with Gandland leaders they could agree a compromise that might suit you, the reason criminals are often caught towards the end of shifts is that incidents occur during the shift, Gardai are called and investigate and maybe searches have to take place and suspects identified and located. Meanwhile the clock is still ticking towards the end of shift. The suspect is arrested and detained under the relevant legislation which may allow them to be held for various periods up to 24 hourse in average cases. Overtime can often as a result be necessary to complete the investigation properly but dont let the facts get in the way of a good whinge. Overtime isnt worth doing by the way!

keith16 · 06-08-2012 11:42AM

blondie29 wrote: »

http://www.sundayworld.com/columnists/sw-irish-crime.php

'Garda rank & vile' is headline in Sunday world where Garda Niall O'Connor leaves the force after 5 years, disclosing the pressures frontline gardai are left to deal with no backup of management or funding from our Government, while also discussing the ridiculous situations of criminals walking free from court.

I think its disgraceful how gardai are meant to carry out their duties..their management is a joke. No other police force are treated like this. Will it get worse than this??

Law enforcement and justice are not the same thing.

Pappa Charlie · 06-08-2012 11:44AM

keith16 wrote: »

Law enforcement and justice are not the same thing.

Yeah! but can one do without the other?

ROCKMAN · 06-08-2012 11:46AM

Yes he highlighted the problems facing the Garda at the moment but i can't help but feel that it was the lack of cash that made him quit rather then any high morale stand.

newmug · 06-08-2012 12:04PM

To be fair to the Guards, if the legal system in this country had a good overhaul, their work would bear way more fruit.

keith16 · 06-08-2012 12:09PM

Pappa Charlie wrote: »

Yeah! but can one do without the other?

All a Garda can do is bring someone before the court. Any injustice should not stop the gardaí from doing their job.

Why would they bother at all if they though "ah shure, the judge will just let them go with a slap on the wrist anyway"?

Defiler Of The Coffin · 06-08-2012 12:21PM

We've got a 19th-century prison system. Thornton Hall prison badly needs to be built. Criminals know how bad the overcrowding in the prisons is and are laughing all the way out the courtroom doors. Judges are far too lenient, how they can be repeatedly swayed by the alcoholism defence time and time again is beyond me. Maybe they just don't care.

Colmustard · 06-08-2012 12:25PM

LOL
A Garde leaves the force and cribs about management and people take it serious.

Anyone want to hear me crib about the management I am under. Nah didn't think so, we all crib and bitch about our managers and bosses, its human nature.

Defiler Of The Coffin · 06-08-2012 12:28PM

Colmustard wrote: »

LOL
A Garde leaves the force and cribs about management and people take it serious.

Anyone want to hear me crib about the management I am under. Nah didn't think so, we all crib and bitch about our managers and bosses, its human nature.

So there's nothing to be taken seriously in that article at all? It was all just one big rant, the justice system in this country is fine?

Biggins · 06-08-2012 12:33PM

blondie29 wrote: »

http://www.sundayworld.com/columnists/sw-irish-crime.php

'Garda rank & vile' is headline in Sunday world where Garda Niall O'Connor leaves the force after 5 years, disclosing the pressures frontline gardai are left to deal with no backup of management or funding from our Government, while also discussing the ridiculous situations of criminals walking free from court.

I think its disgraceful how gardai are meant to carry out their duties..their management is a joke. No other police force are treated like this. Will it get worse than this??

Sadly its nothing new.
The Garda have been for some time, been a political football that all parties have been kicking in order to score points against each other.

If the idiots in the Dail would just give them the tools to do their job instead of taking them away and interfering constantly (sometimes for their own personal reasons) then the lads and lassies would have a far easier job and could just get on with it!

Fair play to the person that spoke out but the truth is that its well known how bad things are - the government is just ignoring the issue, if only because they are part of the problem.

Expect sound-bites (if anything at all), condemnations about he speaking out, more platitudes - then they will do sweet fcuk all to remedy the situation!

keith16 · 06-08-2012 12:34PM

Defiler Of The Coffin wrote: »

So there's nothing to be taken seriously in that article at all? It was all just one big rant, the justice system in this country is fine?

As I said, big difference between the justice system and a gard on the street doing his job. Entirely different things.

Biggins · 06-08-2012 12:44PM

Colmustard wrote: »

LOL
A Garde leaves the force and cribs about management and people take it serious.

Anyone want to hear me crib about the management I am under. Nah didn't think so, we all crib and bitch about our managers and bosses, its human nature.

Sometimes, just sometimes its also necessary!

Garda quits force & discloses disgraceful management

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