Making a Complaint about Gardai - How?

rustynutz · 05-04-2018 8:11pm #1

My car got vandalised recently, about a thousand euros worth of damage. When I returned to the car and noticed the damage, I also noticed the car was parked right under a CCTV camera for an ATM. The damage was immediately reported to the nearby garda station, also explained the presence of CCTV. I done some research myself into what company had the footage and contacted them, they said they needed the Gardai to contact them in order to release this footage, fair enough. They also told me the data would be recorded over inside 30 days so once it was viewed before this there shouldn't be an issue. I immediately informed the garda handling the case the name of the company, contact details of the guy I spoke to, and the 30 day window in order to view the footage.

Anyway, after several phonecalls over the following 30 days to see if there was any progress, the footage got recorded over due to the slow pace of the Gardai in question.

I am more upset over their handling of this than I am about the damage to the car, I know it's not a major crime by any stretch of the imagination, but it was an easy crime to solve, everything they needed was there, the car was only left unattended for 40 mins so it's not like they had to trawl through hours of footage. I want to make a complaint about this as I don't know what else to do, how do I go about this, and is it worth the grief I may receive from the garda in question in future?

trashcan · 05-04-2018 8:12pm

Garda Ombudsman.

malinheader · 05-04-2018 8:19pm

O P the last two lines of your post is the one you should think about. Had a similar experience myself and making a complaint was a waste of time.

[Deleted User] · 06-04-2018 2:48pm

Making the complaint won't resolve the original issue but should get you an answer as to why the investigation wasn't dealt with in a satisfactory manner.

If people don't complain things never change.

https://www.gardaombudsman.ie/make-a-complaint/submit-a-complaint/

Richard Bingham · 31-03-2019 12:37am

+1

The bonnet of my car got jumped on this evening when I was at an ATM across the street. My kid was in the back seat and he got an awful fright. I made a run at the guy who did it but he got on to a bus so I followed the bus while calling the Gardai and I tailed him on foot when he got off it. Two guards attended and I told him where he was and gave them a full description including every piece of clothing he was wearing as well as a very distinctive logo on his jacket but they were afraid to approach him.

This is my seventh time to be a victim of crime. On 3 occasions the person got away clean so I got the sad story "that's a bummer but realistically there's not much we can do". On three occasions I caught the guy myself (two burglaries and tonights sh1t story) and on one occasion my housemate caught him (burglary).

In one of the burglaries we called the Gardai and cornered the burglar outside the house but the guards didn't attend so we had to let him go.
In one of the burglaries I got the burglar on CCTV and I picked him out of a mugshot book. He was arrested and summonsed to court but was then jailed for motoring offences and was out in less than a week. He was never prosecuted for my burglary despite being on CCTV.
In one of the burglaries my housemate knocked him off the top of a 7 foot high wall and he smashed his face in on concrete in the neighbours garden and wasn't able to get away. He was arrested for this but never brought to court.

So on three occasions I accept there was nothing that could be done but on four occasions I (or my housemate) did it for them and handed it to them on a platter and they completely dropped the ball.

I know for a fact that only 2 of these 7 incidents made it into the crime statistics (the burglary where I got him on CCTV and the one where my housemate knocked him off the wall). So by my reckoning the crime stats are under reported by about 71%.

I realise that tonight's incident isn't the crime of the century and I didn't expect him to be publicly flogged but when the Gardai are afraid to deal with scumbags like this it's no wonder the country is going down the sh1tter. If there is damage to my car I will have to pay for it.

The most annoying part of it is that every time you're the victim the Gardai you deal with are really sound - you would think they are just the nicest guys in the world and then invariably they let you down, and then when you make a genuine error like breaching the speed limit by 5 mile an hour you get nailed to the wall with no mercy. They're well able to catch the poor fncker doing 55 in a 50kmph zone or some poor b5stard driving to work on a Monday morning after having 3 pints the night before but there is no law at all for real scumbags.

It's a total joke.

salonfire · 31-03-2019 8:53pm

Makes a mockery of their appeals to the public for witnesses and to be on the look out for suspicious behavior. When a suspect is handed to them on a plate, they don't follow up.

Sir Galahad · 31-03-2019 9:04pm

Ring the station and ask for the SHO. This person is like the station manager and is a sergeant. Make an appointment to meet them and explain to them what happened. If you don't get satisfaction then call the station and ask for an appointment to see the Inspector. This is a direct route to having the Garda explain why he did not follow up your case. Finally I feel that I should explain to you that these Gardai are stretched way beyond their limits and are completely under resourced. As an example it can take over five years to have a computer hard disc analysed and examined in a case of child abuse / sexual offences , so you can only imagine what moral is like.

Gallee · 03-04-2019 2:57pm

Richard Bingham wrote: »

+1

The bonnet of my car got jumped on this evening when I was at an ATM across the street. My kid was in the back seat and he got an awful fright. I made a run at the guy who did it but he got on to a bus so I followed the bus while calling the Gardai and I tailed him on foot when he got off it. Two guards attended and I told him where he was and gave them a full description including every piece of clothing he was wearing as well as a very distinctive logo on his jacket but they were afraid to approach him.

This is my seventh time to be a victim of crime. On 3 occasions the person got away clean so I got the sad story "that's a bummer but realistically there's not much we can do". On three occasions I caught the guy myself (two burglaries and tonights sh1t story) and on one occasion my housemate caught him (burglary).

In one of the burglaries we called the Gardai and cornered the burglar outside the house but the guards didn't attend so we had to let him go.

In one of the burglaries I got the burglar on CCTV and I picked him out of a mugshot book. He was arrested and summonsed to court but was then jailed for motoring offences and was out in less than a week. He was never prosecuted for my burglary despite being on CCTV.

In one of the burglaries my housemate knocked him off the top of a 7 foot high wall and he smashed his face in on concrete in the neighbours garden and wasn't able to get away. He was arrested for this but never brought to court.

So on three occasions I accept there was nothing that could be done but on four occasions I (or my housemate) did it for them and handed it to them on a platter and they completely dropped the ball.

I know for a fact that only 2 of these 7 incidents made it into the crime statistics (the burglary where I got him on CCTV and the one where my housemate knocked him off the wall). So by my reckoning the crime stats are under reported by about 71%.

I realise that tonight's incident isn't the crime of the century and I didn't expect him to be publicly flogged but when the Gardai are afraid to deal with scumbags like this it's no wonder the country is going down the sh1tter. If there is damage to my car I will have to pay for it.

The most annoying part of it is that every time you're the victim the Gardai you deal with are really sound - you would think they are just the nicest guys in the world and then invariably they let you down, and then when you make a genuine error like breaching the speed limit by 5 mile an hour you get nailed to the wall with no mercy. They're well able to catch the poor fncker doing 55 in a 50kmph zone or some poor b5stard driving to work on a Monday morning after having 3 pints the night before but there is no law at all for real scumbags.

It's a total joke.

+2

Victim of crime too a few times. I gave up reporting.

There is a fine balance in Policing. You have to have the support of the majority of the community on your side. That support is being seriously eroded as the people with permanent addresses seem to be on the receiving end of most of the Garda attention. Easy stuff like what you described above. And yes driving above the speed limit is an offense but here is where the balance comes into it. I have relatives who wont take a drink now the night before!! "I'am afraid of being stopped by the Gardai" is the answer. Nothing to hide, completely sober but don't want that interaction with the officer and breathalyzer.

Moral and pay are at rock bottom. A Sgt will tell you the pay debacle is causing grave concern to "keep guys straight on my unit". ****e IT, vehicles not fit for purpose and personal protection equipment not at the top of the list. Bringing scrotes to the DC and they are laughing at you as the Judge hands out a sentence that you know he;ll be back on the streets tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile the top brass drolled ouit the same crap with the Minster for Justice on his or her shoulder and said...(pre Harris)..."AGS is adequately resourced, and yes we would like more resources but we can provide effective policing in the State".

The CSO dont believe (sorry not reliable) the crime figure from AGS as seen here....https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/crime/gardarecordedcrimestatistics/

I have a lot of buddies in AGS - sound, hard working and honest....absolutely. Overworked and under resourced...absolutely.

Me...I am like the OP - pissed off that criminals and thugs can be seen to get away with stuff while all the attention appears to be on the normal Joe.

TheBoyConor · 03-04-2019 3:36pm

At the end of the day op, you are only getting yourself into more hassle.

Realistically, the sort of scobey who jumps on a car bonnet or vandalises things is, well, a scobey! They are not the sort of person you can take a recover damages from, even if you take a successful case. They usually have nothing and even if they do have money, they won't honour the judgement. For €1000 it just wouldn't be worth the hassle of taking legal action cos you'd only end up paying your solicitor and getting feck all off of the defendant in the end.

On the criminal side, no-one is going to be send to jail for vandalism of a car, regrettably. Best case is they get the probation act or a poor box fine or some other minor slap on the wrist and then give the two fingers to everyone.

You're better off just taking it on the chin and getting on with life. It's a **** state of affairs but that is just the way it is unfortunately.

Richard Bingham · 05-04-2019 8:00am

TheBoyConor wrote: »

At the end of the day op, you are only getting yourself into more hassle.

Realistically, the sort of scobey who jumps on a car bonnet or vandalises things is, well, a scobey! They are not the sort of person you can take a recover damages from, even if you take a successful case. They usually have nothing and even if they do have money, they won't honour the judgement. For €1000 it just wouldn't be worth the hassle of taking legal action cos you'd only end up paying your solicitor and getting feck all off of the defendant in the end.

On the criminal side, no-one is going to be send to jail for vandalism of a car, regrettably. Best case is they get the probation act or a poor box fine or some other minor slap on the wrist and then give the two fingers to everyone.

You're better off just taking it on the chin and getting on with life. It's a **** state of affairs but that is just the way it is unfortunately.

I mentioned 7 times I’ve been a victim of crime/anti-social behavior and you latched on to one and tell me get over it!

Either you are one if these people who goes on boards playing devils advocate (trolling) or you’re the kind of person who leaves €50 on the hall table to pay the burglar not to go up the stairs.

You’re wrong about enforcement of judgments. If he has a job (and he was well dressed so that’s quite likely) it’s not that hard to recover small amounts like this, and an order for costs.

If you think I should get over it consider this. Yesterday I was parked around 500 yards from the place where the guy walked across my car. I felt and heard a bang on the car and when I looked in the rear view I could see that a woman had thrown a crate of minerals up on my boot lid. There was a Garda car parked 15 yards from me but (now that I am wiser) instead of making an issue of it with them, I just verbally abused her.

That’s what the country is coming to, because we paid back the bond holders and now can’t afford to have a police force or a healthcare system or proper transport, broadband etc etc.

Henry Ford III · 05-04-2019 8:39am

Richard Bingham wrote:

This is my seventh time to be a victim of crime....

Where do you live? Have you considered moving to a lower crime area?

Richard Bingham · 05-04-2019 3:10pm

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Where do you live? Have you considered moving to a lower crime area?

No I haven’t. Nothing I mentioned above happened where I currently live. I don’t stay in my house all day. I sometimes go out.

The two car incidents happened in the same town and two of the burglaries were in the one house in a different location (other side of country). The other burglaries were in 3 different locations.

What good would moving do? It’s not as if this is only happening in select areas.

Turner · 08-04-2019 11:33am

Richard Bingham wrote: »

+1

but they were afraid to approach him.

Can you expand on this please. In what way were they afraid to approach him, were the Gardai scared of him?

Richard Bingham · 08-04-2019 11:36pm

Turner wrote: »

Can you expand on this please. In what way were they afraid to approach him, were the Gardai scared of him?

I don’t understand the question. I told them what happened, gave them a description right down to what was written on his top and told them where he was standing and I asked them to deal with him. They said that they didn’t want to pull him out there and then but they would get him afterwards and then they left.

I don’t have any insight into what was going on in their heads but in the absence of any obvious explanation I’m assuming that they were afraid. I know that Gardai sometimes drive slowly to avoid being first in the door.

I’m sure some here will put it down to “operational matters”.

[Deleted User] · 09-04-2019 4:23pm

Richard Bingham wrote: »

I don’t understand the question. I told them what happened, gave them a description right down to what was written on his top and told them where he was standing and I asked them to deal with him. They said that they didn’t want to pull him out there and then but they would get him afterwards and then they left.

I don’t have any insight into what was going on in their heads but in the absence of any obvious explanation I’m assuming that they were afraid. I know that Gardai sometimes drive slowly to avoid being first in the door.

I’m sure some here will put it down to “operational matters”.

Where was he, you didn't say.

California Dreamer · 19-04-2019 12:32am

TheBoyConor wrote: »

At the end of the day op, you are only getting yourself into more hassle.
.

There you have ladies & gents. The reason why NOTHING in this country will ever change!

Making a Complaint about Gardai - How?

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