Garda ''pubic attitude survey''

carzony · 15-07-2014 04:53PM #1

Do they really think they'll rank high in this new survey?:eek: The government really seem to be trying their best to make things difficult for the gardai these days with cutbacks, wages slashed, poor transport and now asking the public to rate them.

Their obviously not gonna rank high with all the problems they have these day..

How would you rank them when given the opportunity?

http://www.thejournal.ie/gardai-public-satisfaction-1572137-Jul2014/

Plazaman · 15-07-2014 04:54PM

Short & Curly Guard, all the way.

TimeToShine · 15-07-2014 04:55PM

Jaysus the amateur comedian crowd will be out in full force on this one.

discus · 15-07-2014 04:55PM

I like the gardai. Far better experiences with them than any of the italian police forces, spanish police, norwegian or british police.

Timmyctc · 15-07-2014 04:56PM

My mates friend's dog once had a run in with a Guard so they're all *****. Let the country run itself rabble rabble rabble.

Wishiwasa Littlebitaller · 15-07-2014 05:00PM

Great bunch of lads.. and ban lads.

Maphisto · 15-07-2014 05:02PM

Lose the hatitude

fxotoole · 15-07-2014 05:07PM

Generally grand to deal with, as long as you don't get on the wrong side of them. A few bad eggs give the rest a bad name.

Maphisto · 15-07-2014 05:11PM

fxotoole wrote: »

Generally grand to deal with, as long as you don't get on the wrong side of them. A few bad eggs give the rest a bad name.

That sums it up well, generally my experience as well.

Always found the guys (always seems to be guys) I've met to be sound. There's a bit of unsavoury stuff floating around with the Shell pipeline protests and the woman that recorded the Sergeant suggesting maybe they should rape them - I mean FFS.

suicide_circus · 15-07-2014 05:16PM

Do trust the gardai?
Hmmm...depends.

If I am in an argument with someone who happens to know/is related to a garda, do I trust them to be impartial? No.

If I call the gardai to report an incident, do I trust them to arrive in a reasonable amount of time? No.

In the unlikely event that I am ever arrested, do I trust them not to beat me up? No.

When I have to go to the local station to get forms filled out etc, do I trust them to be polite and efficient? No.

That said, I would rather have the gardai than italian, spanish, american police.

Valetta · 15-07-2014 05:20PM

I think you'll find the results are not at all reflective of the biased, rabble rousing whingers here on boards.

old hippy · 15-07-2014 05:25PM

Don't much care for them in the main but there are some decent sorts in the force.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5 · 15-07-2014 05:27PM

Friend of mine got cautioned for being in the nip at the local pier once. So in my experience I'd have to say their pubic attitude is pretty negative really.

Sierra Oscar · 15-07-2014 05:28PM

This is not the first time that there have been Garda public attitudes surveys, they occurred throughout the 2000's. You can read them here, seems the force did OK during those surveys. I reckon they probably axed the surveys during the downturn to save money - should be done every year anyhow.

Boards.ie attitudes towards the Gardai certainly would not be representative of the rest of Ireland based on the previous surveys, and I would say that trend will continue ...

coolemon · 15-07-2014 05:29PM

They should do a proper internal survey and publish the results.

The closest thing we have is an internal survey of "Student Gardaí" in 2009 who have had work placements in garda stations.

And the the results:

- Machismo culture: aggressive confrontational masculine behaviour
dominates (even among women members) - 47% said Yes

- Have you met a Garda colleague who is unsuitable for policing? - 79% Yes

- Them versus us – those outside or inside are perceived to be against us- 55% Yes

- Racist behaviour towards others outside or inside the Garda - 36% Yes

- Violence unjustified by law: using more force than allowed by law - 17% Yes

- Class bias towards others outside or inside the Garda where different
social classes are seen to be treated differently - 37% Yes

- Rule-bending, covering up infringements, backing each other up - 26% Yes

- Abuse of powers where stops, searches, arrests or detention or the use of
force or discretion is slightly or significantly beyond what the law specifies - 30% Yes

- Is there an antagonistic attitude towards certain groups in society? - 57% Yes

- Is there institutional racism in An Garda Síochána where the organisation
fails to outlaw racism? - 27% Yes

- Is the use of authority the central meaning of policing for you? - 7% Yes

- Is the Garda culture the same as that of a rugby club in terms of
physicality and drinking prowess? - 24% Yes

http://www.garda.ie/Documents/User/Communique%20Final%20DEC%2009%20Reduced.pdf

So come on Guardians of the Peace. Give us some transparency. Let the public know what you really are and think behind all the PR campaigns.

irish gent · 15-07-2014 05:31PM

I never had a problems with Garda and just as people say some bad eggs .

Valetta · 15-07-2014 05:42PM

Milena Brief Type wrote: »

Friend of mine got cautioned for being in the nip at the local pier once. So in my experience I'd have to say their pubic attitude is pretty negative really.

Perhaps your friend needs to look at his/her public attitude.

myshirt · 15-07-2014 05:46PM

Would this not be more appropriately titled the 'h'attitude test'?

Tail Docker · 15-07-2014 06:09PM

How's your attitude.

Umadbrah? · 15-07-2014 06:11PM

What's with the hate for spanish police? When I was living in Spain I got lost quite a few times and they always helped me..they even gave me a lift

Little CuChulainn · 15-07-2014 06:36PM

With all the resource problems in the organisation, it's great to see management investing money in such an important scheme. With unsuitable uniforms, severe manpower problems, a barely functioning fleet of vehicles, reduced legal powers, insufficient training and disastrous morale, finding out what Joe Public thinks of the local bobby is definitely the most important thing to invest in.

coolemon · 15-07-2014 06:44PM

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

With all the resource problems in the organisation, it's great to see management investing money in such an important scheme. With unsuitable uniforms, severe manpower problems, a barely functioning fleet of vehicles, reduced legal powers, insufficient training and disastrous morale, finding out what Joe Public thinks of the local bobby is definitely the most important thing to invest in.

Do you have evidence that all of those factors are occurring?

Ie, that Gardaí have a resource problem - rather than a mismanagement of resources problem.

From my experience, I would say the latter. They can deploy huge amounts of resources needlessly while neglecting other requirements.

And how can people take them seriously when they talk about a lack of vehicles while they park brand new unoccupied vans and cars in the middle of o' Connell street for apparent display purposes...

Come on like.

The Gardaí get off easy in this country. Complete and utter mismanagement and the prioritisation political policing over other policing needs is what is happening, in my opinion.

Little CuChulainn · 15-07-2014 06:47PM

coolemon wrote: »

Do you have evidence that all of those factors are occurring?

Ie, that Gardaí have a resource problem - rather than a mismanagement of resources problem.

From my experience, I would say the latter. They can deploy huge amounts of resources needlessly while neglecting other requirements.

And how can people take them seriously when they talk about a lack of vehicles while they park brand new unoccupied vans and cars in the middle of o' Connell street for apparent display purposes...

Come on like.

The Gardaí get off easy in this country. Complete and utter mismanagement and the prioritisation political policing over other policing needs is what is happening, in my opinion.

And from where do you draw this vast experience?

dundalkfc10 · 15-07-2014 06:48PM

They majority are 100% and do the job to the best of their ability.

There is a bunch though who are nothing but Scumbags themselves.

At the end of the day, its the justice systems fault.

I could get jumped up town next week by 2 lads with a knife and robbed, They may/may not get lifted but will be out in 2 days roaming the streets again and then appear in the local paper 12 months later with a 6 month suspended sentence cause they were on drugs at the time, had a drink problem etc..........****ing Joke of a Country if you ask me

in_ur_Is icy delight · 15-07-2014 06:49PM

what do you call a bangarda who shaves 'down there'?

House of Blaze · 15-07-2014 06:54PM

in_ur_Is icy delight wrote: »

what do you call a bangarda who shaves 'down there'?

Go on then! :rolleyes:

coolemon · 15-07-2014 07:19PM

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

And from where do you draw this vast experience?

Well I can speak from by observations as an activist.

An evident and recent example would be to take a comparison pf the management of resources between the recent large Palestine demonstration in Dublin and a much smaller demonstration last year.

I was at both the large Palestine demonstration there on Saturday, and also the one last year. There were about 2,000 people at the one on Saturday. It was loud, and somewhat rowdy. It was spontaneous in that the organisers had planned for it to remain on O' Connell Street, and instead it marched towards the Dail and then on to the Israeli embassy.

The garda presence was 'light'. At the embassy, where the crowd had amassed, there was probably 7-8 garda on the premises defending it. One garda car was present. Outside, perhaps another 4-5 garda. This was for a substantial crowd of at least 4-500 who had reached it. Obviously there would have been other garda on standby, but they were not visible to me.

Compare the resources above to the resources deployed last year at a pro-Palestine 'counterdemonstration' that occurred on O' Connell street last year. I was at it, and I would say there were, at most, 15 demonstrators.

Resources deployed:

30-40 Riot Police in full armour.
10-15 plain clothes and special detective gardai.
2 dog units.
A Garda/prison lorry
20-30+ normal uniformed gardai.

Images of this deployment last year can be found here:

http://www.demotix.com/photo/1633739/pro-israeli-and-pro-palestinian-protests-staged-dublin&popup=1

http://www.demotix.com/photo/1633736/pro-israeli-and-pro-palestinian-protests-staged-dublin&popup=1

http://www.demotix.com/photo/1633767/pro-israeli-and-pro-palestinian-protests-staged-dublin&popup=1

So what you had, in this example, and in my opinion, was the complete mismanagement of garda resources. This is quite a stark example. But in general, political protest in this country is heavily policed unnecessarily.

And not just political activity, but any social and public gathering even involving small amounts of people usually have gardai standing around needlessly.

Edit, I should actually revise the normal gardai numbers upwards for the second example as I view those images again. At least 50-60 normal uniformed gardai.

pauliebdub · 15-07-2014 07:33PM

I think they are ok to be honest, better than UK, Italian or Spanish police that's for sure. Some Gardai can be really lovely but often I've found then to be curt, impatient and put upon if I have to call them or visit the station.

Little CuChulainn · 15-07-2014 07:34PM

coolemon wrote: »

Well I can speak from by observations as an activist.

An evident and recent example would be to take a comparison pf the management of resources between the recent large Palestine demonstration in Dublin and a much smaller demonstration last year.

I was at both the large Palestine demonstration there on Saturday, and also the one last year. There were about 2,000 people at the one on Saturday. It was loud, and somewhat rowdy. It was spontaneous in that the organisers had planned for it to remain on O' Connell Street, and instead it marched towards the Dail and then on to the Israeli embassy.

The garda presence was 'light'. At the embassy, where the crowd had amassed, there was probably 7-8 garda on the premises defending it. One garda car was present. Outside, perhaps another 4-5 garda. This was for a substantial crowd of at least 4-500 who had reached it. Obviously there would have been other garda on standby, but they were not visible to me.

Compare the resources above to the resources deployed last year at a pro-Palestine 'counterdemonstration' that occurred on O' Connell street last year. I was at it, and I would say there were, at most, 15 demonstrators.

Resources deployed:

30-40 Riot Police in full armour.
10-15 plain clothes and special detective gardai.
2 dog units.
A Garda/prison lorry
20-30+ normal uniformed gardai.

Images of this deployment last year can be found here:

http://www.demotix.com/photo/1633739/pro-israeli-and-pro-palestinian-protests-staged-dublin&popup=1

http://www.demotix.com/photo/1633736/pro-israeli-and-pro-palestinian-protests-staged-dublin&popup=1

http://www.demotix.com/photo/1633767/pro-israeli-and-pro-palestinian-protests-staged-dublin&popup=1

So what you had, in this example, and in my opinion, was the complete mismanagement of garda resources. This is quite a stark example. But in general, political protest in this country is heavily policed unnecessarily.

And not just political activity, but any social and public gathering even involving small amounts of people usually have gardai standing around needlessly.

It's pretty difficult to judge how a protest will go. From the example you quoted it appears they prepared for anything in the first one and reduced their numbers based on the previous behavior of the group for the second one. That actually seems like good management. Or perhaps they just didn't have the numbers to police the second one in the same manner.

coolemon · 15-07-2014 07:36PM

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

It's pretty difficult to judge how a protest will go. From the example you quoted it appears they prepared for anything in the first one and reduced their numbers based on the previous behavior of the group for the second one. That actually seems like good management. Or perhaps they just didn't have the numbers to police the second one in the same manner.

they did not reduce their numbers for the second one. Not at all did they.

They actually deployed the riot cops at a later stage having already prepared them. Look at the photographs! - the line of them.

And this for an extremely small protest that uniformed gardai could manage.

Mismanagement is all I can say. I felt like the most wanted man in Ireland at it, - that they needed an army to keep me at bay from holding a placard...

Some have speculated that this was on Alan Shatters orders, given his ministerial office and views on the issue.

Little CuChulainn · 15-07-2014 07:47PM

coolemon wrote: »

they did not reduce their numbers for the second one. Not at all did they.

This is your description of the resources at last Saturdays protest

The garda presence was 'light'. At the embassy, where the crowd had amassed, there was probably 7-8 garda on the premises defending it. One garda car was present. Outside, perhaps another 4-5 garda. This was for a substantial crowd of at least 4-500 who had reached it. Obviously there would have been other garda on standby, but they were not visible to me.

And this is your description of the resources at last years demonstration

30-40 Riot Police in full armour.
10-15 plain clothes and special detective gardai.
2 dog units.
A Garda/prison lorry
20-30+ normal uniformed gardai.

That sounds like a massive reduction between the first and second one.

About last Saturdays you first say

Obviously there would have been other garda on standby, but they were not visible to me.

but then you say

They actually deployed the riot cops at a later stage having already prepared them

Garda ''pubic attitude survey''

Comments