Realt Dearg Sec wrote: » What have we learned today children?
KwackerJack wrote: » One person quoted "sure they were probably going to the shop for doughnuts and they ran into the drug dealer" :rolleyes: very mature!! ?
KwackerJack wrote: » A big drugs bust happened today and more Heroin is now off the streets but are they happy oh god no!
ElleEm wrote: » I am so confused.
Menas wrote: » Its simple. Some people hate the police and think that we would be better off without them. Except no one knows any of these people. And there are drugs that should be legalised to make people love the police and someone got raped every 26 seconds. On facebook. In south africa. I think.
R.D. aka MR.D wrote: » The person was obviously a teenager. The donut stereotype is an American one. If I'm online and it read it said about an Irish context, I would just assume that it's a teenager with very little outdoors play time.
hatrickpatrick wrote: » And therein probably lies the contention. Legalise drugs tomorrow and I suspect a vast amount of cop hate would evaporate overnight.
Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: » I have a feeling those people are a tiny tiny minority.Probably around 0.000001% of our population. No point really bothering about opinions shared by so few people.
Little CuChulainn wrote: » Should have gone with breakfast roll. No it wouldn't. It's just an excuse. At the heart of the issue it's a problem with authority. If it wasn't drugs it'd be drink, or car tax, or insurance. Many people just don't like when someone else has authority over them. They don't like being told what to do.
Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: » And here in a nutshell is where the hatred for the Guards comes from. Instead of thinking that they are there to protect us they believe that they have authority over us.
Little CuChulainn wrote: » Gardaí do have authority over people. That's just a fact. It's enshrined in legislation. Is this something you dispute? Would you like me to post the various pieces of legislation which gives Gardaí authority to require people to do things? Why you think that protecting people and having authority over people are mutually exclusive is beyond me.
hatrickpatrick wrote: » I'd be one of those people, but I think it's safe enough to say that there is now a fairly firm majority which does not believe in victimless crime, and as such believes that arrests for the possession of drugs for personal use is absolute bullsh!t. Most people I know who have issues with police have issues with them for this reason and this reason alone. It's pretty unfair in my view, it's successive governments who should be blamed for legislating this and not the Gardai who have no choice but to enforce it. As Turk said, the Gardai are here to protect us - giving people sh!t for smoking a joint or shooting up does not fall under that banner. Again, I don't agree with attacking the Gardai over that, it's ultimately the government's fault, but that is where most anti-Garda sentiment I've seen comes from. "F*ckin' pigs took my cans / 50 bag". The fact that it's DCC who legislated against drinking outdoors, and the national government who legislated against drug possession, doesn't seem to register.
Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: » And this misplaced authority is the reason for peoples ambivalence towards our police force. I have lived in New York and the respect that the people have for the police is unbelievable compared to this country. And it goes both ways as well. The police genuinely get on with the citizens. If they issue an order it is adhered to. That doesn't happen through fear or "authority" it comes from respect which unfortunately the people of Ireland don't have for our police force.
Little CuChulainn wrote: » People don't agree with victimless crimes when they commit them. There's plenty of victimless crimes would have very few defenders.
In any case, people get upset about the Gardaí taking their weed or booze but if you think that's where the hostility comes from I think you are mistaken.
hatrickpatrick wrote: » If you know of other reasons for an average citizen to have a beef with the cops apart from traffic and public order enforcement, what are they?
Little CuChulainn wrote: » At the heart of the issue it's a problem with authority. If it wasn't drugs it'd be drink, or car tax, or insurance. Many people just don't like when someone else has authority over them. They don't like being told what to do.
hatrickpatrick wrote: » Such as?
hatrickpatrick wrote: » Well as far as I can see, your average non-gangland, non-psycho citizen has only two reasons not to like the police: 1) Enforcement of killjoy laws 2) Enforcement of certain traffic laws Given that many of the people I know who have anti-cop sentiments don't actually drive and aren't petty criminals, we can assume 1) is the main reason for their animosity, and under 1) fall -enforcement of bans on various items -enforcement of bans on certain activities -enforcement of public order laws (noise complaints, public intoxication etc) I can't see any other reasons for an average citizen (IE, neither a blue or white collar criminal) to hate the Gardai.
hatrickpatrick wrote: » Personally I don't hate them for either of the above mentioned reasons because I trace the root of both issues to government legislation. You can't really blame somebody for doing their job even if you don't like their job, you have to blame those who actually give them their jobs, and in this case, that's those who legislate the laws of the land. But I reckon a lot of people don't really think about it that much, they just see "f*cking guards, everyone hide your cans" rather than "Guards enforcing f*cking DCC policies, screw the councillors".
hatrickpatrick wrote: » If you know of other reasons for an average citizen to have a beef with the cops apart from traffic and public order enforcement, what are they? Most people I know never have any interactions with the Gardai at all except in those two categories. I know for myself anyway, as someone who doesn't drive on account of living beside a public transport hub, literally the only time I ever watch out for Gardai and hope not to encounter any is if I'm with a group on my way from a house party to a club, and I'm having a final beer on the walk from one to the other.
One eyed Jack wrote: » Fundamental reason here: They're the type that think of the Gardaí as "killjoys", when what the Gardaí are actually doing is enforcing the laws that protect society. They aren't out to break anyone's balls, but often times you'll have people claiming the Gardaí were breaking their balls, until it turns out that the instigator of their own demise is the person crying foul who has a problem with anyone "spoiling their fun" or "infringing on their personal liberties"... :rolleyes:
melissak wrote: » Killjoy laws or creeping totalitarianism trying to morally police us now that the Catholic Church have lost their hold? I remember an overzealous young guard giving out to a friend for singing at a village music festiva, he was no Pavarotti tbh but not bothering anyone, While two lads were battering the heads off each other across the road...
One eyed Jack wrote: » One Garda is hardly representative of rank and file Gardaí in fairness, I don't think anyone could realistically call the job they do 'creeping totalitarianism'. That would take a lot more than just a handful of personal anecdotes before it could be taken seriously.