Gardai Mirror Theft Scandal!?

The Gnome

I'm not 100% what I just witnessed I relay the details for your perusal/amusement.

I was just looking out the window of my apartment onto the road when a gray car comes around the corner swiftly followed by what seems to be an unmarked police car but with flashing blue indicators (which seemed suspicious to me)

The gray car then proceeds to pull over followed by the other car. Two men dressed in suits then got of the other car and talked briefly with the driver of the first car who turned out to be a middle aged woman. Then they ask her to get out of the car and they start searching the car. They go through her cds, open the boot and find some photos and start looking through them.

This went of for a while until they took a mirror (seem to be a cheap decorative piece) from the boot got into their car and drove off.

Anyone have a clue of what I witnessed? The reg of the unmarked car was 07-D-6055 if it helps.

Pics attached.

lightening

There might have been white lines on the mirror.

The Gnome

I thought it might be drug related but if it was a suspicious article they found then surely the driver would have been arrested and not left at the side of the road.

sharkman

It's defo a cop car !

daedalus2097

With blue indicators? Are you sure they weren't just blue lights mounted behind the grille? Can't imagine it being a good thing to change the colour of your indicators...

FOGOFUNK

I dont understand the suits?

I would def. pull over if they were behind me though.

EDIT: crap spelling

The Gnome

daedalus2097 wrote:

With blue indicators? Are you sure they weren't just blue lights mounted behind the grille? Can't imagine it being a good thing to change the colour of your indicators...

Yep I'm sure, thats whats struck me as odd. Its a strange thing to do to a cop car.

rowanh

Weird. Who drives around with a mirror with lines on it, but what other reason could they possibly have taken it for?? Weird..

They might not have arrested her if it did have coke or whatever on it because they would have to do an anlysis first maybe?

sharkman

The blue strobes in the front bumber/wing are added on (not standard ) and it has the light control box on dash .

Anan1

daedalus2097 wrote:

With blue indicators? Are you sure they weren't just blue lights mounted behind the grille? Can't imagine it being a good thing to change the colour of your indicators...

I've seen a couple of them with little blue flashing marker lights on the wings. The car in the pics appears to have one at the front of the wing, near the headlight. Maybe that's what the OP means?

The Gnome

Just to clarify it was the two areas highlighted in the attached pic.

daedalus2097

sharkman wrote:

The blue strobes in the front bumber/wing are added on (not standard ) and it has the light control box on dash .

Ah, didn't look too closely at the pics, was going on what the OP said... Would be very odd to actually have blue indicators, it'd rule out having normal amber ones for turning corners Normally the blue strobes are behind the grille on the front - wonder were they putting on a show for someone's benefit?

C_Breeze

Wow OP ..how very PI of you!

I doubt they wanted to steal a mirrror for decorative purposes. More than likely coke traces on it or maybe could be viewed as dangerous if you smash it and use it to stab somebody! ...probably just my overactive imagniation though.

oleras

Maybe it was one of those magic mirrors that transport you to another dimension................

And what has this got to do with motors ? After hours maybe........

The Gnome

oleras wrote:

Maybe it was one of those magic mirrors that transport you to another dimension................

Nah, it was way too small. The cops would never fit through it...

oleras wrote:

And what has this got to do with motors ? After hours maybe........

The incident started off with a motorist being pulled over coupled with the odd nature of the police car I felt it was more of a motoring issue. AH would make it into teh funneh whereas people here are more likely to discuss with genuine interest.

38psi

daedalus2097 wrote:

Ah, didn't look too closely at the pics, was going on what the OP said... Would be very odd to actually have blue indicators, it'd rule out having normal amber ones for turning corners Normally the blue strobes are behind the grille on the front - wonder were they putting on a show for someone's benefit?

It is possible to have the strobes placed in the indicator housings without effecting the amber turn signals. The new Garda bimmers have the strobes fitted in the rear light clusters where the indicators are..

Stereophonic

Yeh as above person said, The Garda car indicator lights work as per normal . When Blue lights are turned on, you can still see the amber and the blue lights in the Indicator light.

You always know a 07 Mondeo when it's a Garda car with the small blue light placed on the bumper at the side as in pics.

MAYPOP

Maybe she was reported putting on makeup whilst driving - the cops removed all mirrors to prevent her doing this again

ok sorry, back to debating the lights........

Vikings

Are the Gardai even allowed to do that? I mean, stop someone and immediately go through the whole car looking for something... I thought they were not allowed search your vehicle like that?

Gary ITR

Feckers did it to me...

Saruman

No extra ariels on the car and it has alloys or hubcaps too! Interesting.. and they are in suits? Very odd.. wonder are they off duty and its a personal issue you saw going down.

All very odd though.

Anan1

Saruman wrote:

.. and they are in suits? Very odd.. wonder are they off duty and its a personal issue you saw going down..

AFAIK, all detectives wear those 'suits'.

Turner

Its a cop car, they are detectives, its a stop and search.

Every good detective would do this about 10 times in a shift.

All new patrol cars marked and unmarked now come with side blue strobes. As far as i know Katherine O Toole brought these in on all new cars.

The Gardai wanted these for years due to the amount of people crashing into their cars when they were pulled sideways across the road.

Owen

Yup, I saw a 07 Landcruiser near work which was marked, with sirens, and lightbars, and there, inside the indicator housings were blue strobes.

cormie

Onkle wrote:

Feckers did it to me...

Don't they have to have reasonable suspicion to search a car? A routine pull traffic check wouldn't warrant it, but if you were pulled over driving erratically or if there was a smell of wacky tobaccy coming from the car when they pull you over they have reasonable suspicion to search. Of course this is abused a lot and they search without reasonable suspicion as people aren't aware of their rights.

Mr. Presentable

She is a cleaner from Dáil Eireann, had done Bertie's old office, cleared it completely. Bertie, on being re-elected discovered his make-up mirror missing, sent the "lads" out to find it. It's always the simplest explanation

bo-bo

cormie wrote:

Don't they have to have reasonable suspicion to search a car? A routine pull traffic check wouldn't warrant it, but if you were pulled over driving erratically or if there was a smell of wacky tobaccy coming from the car when they pull you over they have reasonable suspicion to search. Of course this is abused a lot and they search without reasonable suspicion as people aren't aware of their rights.

its very hard to disprove reasonable suspicion. what i find suspicious and you find suspicious might be two totally different things. it can be totally subjective. but lets just say its a cumulation of factors and personal experience.

it can be the way somebody acts, the way they drive, the area they are in etc

granted most people will feel aggrieved when they are stopped and searched, but they may have ticked some of the categories that a particular garda interprets as being suspicious, without even realising it.

TheNog

bo-bo wrote:

its very hard to disprove reasonable suspicion. what i find suspicious and you find suspicious might be two totally different things. it can be totally subjective. but lets just say its a cumulation of factors and personal experience.

it can be the way somebody acts, the way they drive, the area they are in etc

granted most people will feel aggrieved when they are stopped and searched, but they may have ticked some of the categories that a particular garda interprets as being suspicious, without even realising it.

TBH it could be anything.Maybe the woman was in a house where drug dealers are known to live, or maybe she is known to gardai in transporting/being involved in drugs. She could have been acting suspiciously in an area where drugs are sold and possibly drove away when she saw the guards. Or maybe the car could have been used by dealers.

There are lots of possible reasons.

Some detectives are very well dressed in suits, others in casual clothes.

Ppl should know there rights if they are being searched. You always have the right to ask for identification even if they are in uniform. Be as polite as possible to the gardai so it will not be taken as aggression. If you or your car is being searched, ask for the reasons why. Most gardai will tell you cos you have the right to know.

timmywex

nobody here knows why they did take it, so im not even going to speculate

it is a garda car though, if you look at the front bumber, you will see a little LED thingy(under the front lights), thats on all garda cars now because they are trying to do away with the 3 aerials


oh, and dectectives can wear whatever they want, as long as its not uniform, they are paid a small allowance for being in their own clothes too

Our man in Havana

Misuse of drugs act gives Gardaí the right to search a car without a warrant.

cormie

Bond-007 wrote:

Misuse of drugs act gives Gardaí the right to search a car without a warrant.

Yeah but it still has to be under reasonable suspicion afaik.