Garda reserve force

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racso

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This has got a lot of media coverage lately particularly with the conference going on at the moment.

It is my belief that anybody who joins this reserve force is going to face a huge amout of discrimination from the "real gardai"

Would anybody be interested in actually joining this reserve force and if so why?

Would you have the same fears as above?

If you are a member of the gardai how do you feel about the above?

To be honest i am getting a real pain listening to garda spokespersons giving out all the time. Yesterday one said that a gun amnesty was not a good thing as it might not be successful!!!!

Surely if even one gun is taken off the streets it will be a good thing?
 
The Garda representative bodies were off their heads to make a stand on this issue. They would have been better off supporting the reserve, as opposed to getting the ministers back up over an issue that will do little or nothing to improve policing in the state.

Any recruits to the new reserve will be treated very well by the average guard. In the main they are decent people and the average reserve recruit will be young guys and girls who ultimately hope to join the guards and will be quite enthusiastic.

The effect of the reserve will be minimal. They'll be handy to help police the city centres during the late evenings but other than that they will be useless. There will be very few of them and they won't add 1% to the total mantime available to the state. They won't be working in their own areas, they won't be getting paid, only the potential fulltimers will stick it out for any length of time. Any busybodies who join with a view to showing the fulltime guards how to do the job will find themselves doing the worst parts of the job.

I'm not in An Garda Siochana myself but a number of friends and immediate family are members.

Past30
 
There has been a reserve force in England for over a hundred years. They are called special constables, a name dating back over 700 years. Many other European countries have a reserve police force, mostly paid. They are an essential part of the service. What makes us so different?
 
I can't see any good reason for taking unpaid, largely untrained volunteers into such a critical service. Why don't we fill the 400 open clerical posts to get the current Gardai out of the offices and onto the streets?
 
RainyDay said:
I can't see any good reason for taking unpaid, largely untrained volunteers into such a critical service.
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They are to get 120 hours training (ref. Tim O'Malley TD http://www.progressivedemocrats.ie/press_room/1672/) They will be with a full time Garda at all times and can be used for crowd control etc. where a limited skill set is required. It had also been suggested by the PD's that it would give the police greater local knowledge. I don't know if I agree that this is a major point in it's favour. I heard an English police officer on the radio saying that their reserve was an essential part of their force.
RainyDay said:
Why don't we fill the 400 open clerical posts to get the current Gardai out of the offices and onto the streets?
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An excellent suggestion. Why not do both?
 
Will the reserves have access to Garda computers and all their info on citizens?
I can't make up my mind on this reserve force. I think if they are well regulated and screened then it may be a good idea. But we have a great talent at doing things half-assed in this country. I know a few heads from home who'd love to get on the reserves - real choice heads these. Just the type of people you want to give authority to. I also remember my time in Cape Cod in the US where the reserves were the biggest a**holes I have met in my life. We had to step off the path when an officer is passing, and several of my Irish friends there spent nights in the slammer for giving some lip, such as 'You can't come in here without a warrant.' They used to break up gatherings in houses of 5 or more people.
If this reserve force is brought in it will have to be well regulated.
 
I have to admit that since the "Blue Flu" I am of the opinion that if the GRA oppose something then it must be good. This has nothing to do with concerns about standards of policing and everything to do with concerns about overtime. I have two friends who are Gardai. One is the stereotypical stroke pulling type the other is utterly professional. The latter is in favour of the reserve the former is against it. My opinion is lead by this.
 
I suspect the garda are afraid that if there is a reserve force they will have to go out and solve real crimes something they seem incapable of doing so now
 
bazermc said:
I suspect the garda are afraid that if there is a reserve force they will have to go out and solve real crimes something they seem incapable of doing so now
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Very cynical. Probably true though..
 
IMHO the government would better to properly resource the Gardai, providing better equipment & technology, and increasing the force to a realistic size in relation to population and geographic area of the country (I'm thinking it should be at least 40000). The Gardai should be trained to the highest standards and be expected to be entirely professional, there should, of course, be a fully independent body to investigate complaints against Gardai and an internal Gardai investigation unit to root out corrupt Gardai.

From my point of view the Gardai are stretched, hugely under resourced, and morale must be approaching zero, crime is rife, the courts can't keep up. We get more and more laws but the underlying system to prevent & detect crime and to enforce & interpret these laws is creaking under the pressure. All of this is entirely the fault of the FF/PD government.
 
michaelm said:
. All of this is entirely the fault of the FF/PD government.
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And nothing to do with those who break the laws, be that speeding or commiting more serious crime?

C
 
i have to say that subject to strengent checking out of the people applying I am all in favour of it. it should have the effect of having more police on the beat and hopefully making it harder for the criminals.
 
Capaill said:
And nothing to do with those who break the laws, be that speeding or commiting more serious crime?
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Correct. Nothing to do with criminals. All to do with incompetent government. We will always have those willing to commit crime but hopefully we wont always have an incompetent government. We need to manage would-be criminals expectations and put in place properly resourced and coherent policing, legal, and penal systems.
 
This post will be deleted if not edited immediately how are they going to get people to that job for nothing.....are they mad?
 
The reserve can't be anything other than a good thing, there are a hundred and one things they could do that don't require training that would free up our well trained gardai to do the jobs they joined to do.
How much training do you need to
a) answer a phone and take details and pass it on to proper gardai
b) be seen on the streets often just having a visible presence is enough to stamp out the low level anti social crimes that rarely end up with the offender in court but make our streets unsafe
c) usher people to and fro at major sporting or music events
d) operate a speed camera/breathaliser, in these cases there are generally two gardai involved, who says both have to have years of training behind them
e) run after a fleeing criminal and hold them until the senior fully trained garda arrives to administer rights etc, a lot of the time gardai can't (or shouldn't) pursue criminals because they are on their own
f) handle basic paperwork duties such as signing driving licence forms/pictures
These are just a few things I think they could do and I don't have any idea of the full job spec of a garda so there are probably many many others. As has already been said, make sure the right people get to join the reserve and if they abuse their position then don't use them, you can volunteer but it doesn't mean you have to be picked. Of course properly funding and equiping the force we have is a priority but as has been said, why not do both. It'd all be a positive circle, hopefully, more gardai able to tackle serious crime, the perception that if you commit a crime you'll be caught resulting in less crime resulting in more gardai available for tackling the problem areas...
 
call me cynical but would it be anything to do with the loss of overtime for regular gardai now that they might get a few more reservist's and a few less gardai to secure the Patricks day parade or various matches and concerts. a loss of a handy earner for them methinks.
 
Having been heavily involved with a uniformed voluntary organisation for many years, I would have strong suspicions about the motives of a substantial portion of the type of person who would volunteer for the reserve. There are those people for whom a little bit of power would undoubtedly go to their head, and I would have little trust in their ability to apply common sense to many situations. I really don't want to have these guys floating round with full Garda powers and a little bit of training.

Almost all of the roles that have been suggested for the Reserve in the thread could be carried out by clerical staff. I see little value in putting Reserves on the streets in the company of full-time Gardai. It is more likely to be a hindrence than a help. The full-timer now has to worry about baby-sitting the Reserve member as well as doing his job. When things get tough, the full-timer knows he's not going to get the same level of support from a Reserve member as he would from a full-timer.

BTW, on checking Section 15 of the Garda Siochana Act 2005 I see that the level of training will be based on a recommendation from the Commissioner, so I don't think it has been specified as yet. The only good news is that the degree of powers to be exercised by the Reserve will be specified by the Commissioner independently of the Minister, so if the Commissioner has any sense, he will restrict them to making tea and washing the cars.

Where will it stop? Volunteer nurses? Volunteer driving inspectors to clear the backlog?
 
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