A day in the life..

Chris007

Seen as most of us here are in for the long haul how about we all pull over a chair and listen to some of the experiences of current gardai or trainees.
..Would anyone like to get the ball rolling seen as i'm not a guard (yet)

"A day in the life of a garda..."

cul_irl

I'm a member stationed in a large town Chris. In terms of the day well, no 2 days are the same and it depends where you are i.e. car/town/station orderly/command center. If in the car you get to go to all the priority calls, town is more to do with meeting people and doing checkpoints. Station orderly or member i/c is station bound as is command center and you're answering phones/dealing with people at the hatch/responsible for any prisoners brought in among other things. You never know what you're going to and that in itself can be very exciting and on the edge stuff.

I love it, it's a very rewarding job so far...but bare in mind....the highs are unbelievably high but the lows are very very low. It's not all about cruising around, there's ALOT of work in the job now and it's paper for everything. Keep your head too, your mouth and ability to think on your feet can be the difference between a situation fizzling out and a scuffle starting....common sense and logic will get you out of a lot of tricky scenarios. And don't be afaid to ask questions if you don't know something. Your colleagues are your friends, and they'll be more than willing to help...as you will in a few years to the new kid on the block.

You need to be on top of the work, but if you're not afraid to put the work in then you'll reap the rewards. Best of luck getting in, I hear they've cut it to 400 now instead of the 800 accelerated number so it's only gonna get tougher.

Later,
Cul

TheNog

+1 with Cul above

Its certainly is a job which can take you from a boring quiet night to high adreline car chase and back down to a low again arrending to a suicide or domestic.

Paperwork can be unbelievable at first but if you are careful you can aviod alot of the unnecessary stuff. Make sure to keep the paperwork done though or else you will get reminder upon reminder on the same incident.

One piece of advice for everyone starting out, Respect people like you would respect your mother. I cannot stress that enough. I have been in many bad and sometimes dangerous situations were I used some respect and talking to solve it. In my first 1.5yr service I have only been hit once but it wasn't deliberate. If you show people some respect, they will show you respect and that is how information starts coming your way for the likes of search warrants or that vital piece of information to solve a crime.

TheNog

+1 with Cul above

Its certainly is a job which can take you from a boring quiet night to high adreline car chase and back down to a low again arrending to a suicide or domestic.

Paperwork can be unbelievable at first but if you are careful you can aviod alot of the unnecessary stuff. Make sure to keep the paperwork done though or else you will get reminder upon reminder on the same incident.

One piece of advice for everyone starting out, Respect people like you would respect your mother. I cannot stress that enough. I have been in many bad and sometimes dangerous situations were I used some respect and talking to solve it. In my first 1.5yr service I have only been hit once but it wasn't deliberate. If you show people some respect, they will show you respect and that is how information starts coming your way for the likes of search warrants or that vital piece of information to solve a crime.

Chris007

Thanks for the replies guys! Anymore gardai or trainees out there with tales to tell? :pac:

gsdublin

There is a section-I'll try and find the link now-possibly on garda.ie or publicjobs.ie where a selection of gaurds upto I think inspector level give brief interview explaining their career and duties.

I spent an hour or so watching them before i applied. Its something to look out for anyway and it'll give you an idea of whats involved in the job

I'm not a trainee yet either BTW

kevo0489

This is the link.........

http://www.careersportal.ie/organisations/organisation.php?client_id=28

gsdublin

kevo0489 wrote: »

This is the link.........

http://www.careersportal.ie/organisations/organisation.php?client_id=28

Thats the one well worth having a look-I was wrong there is an asisstant commissioner as well.

Chris007

Anymore experiences to share? Anyone? ..It sure is getting quite around here!

Jay112

kevo0489 wrote: »

This is the link.........

http://www.careersportal.ie/organisations/organisation.php?client_id=28

Jaysus the videos are new and well worth a view, in the first video down in the college its the JD intake

i-digress

The Ronan Quinn video is new, I'd seen the others before. They're well worth a look for those who are interested in the Gardai though.

source

Jay112 wrote: »

Jaysus the videos are new and well worth a view, in the first video down in the college its the JD intake

I recognised quite a few faces from my phase too in the Ronan Quinn video.

Dave!

Hey Chris,
there's some helpful posts in this thread here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055201803

Holsten

kevo0489 wrote: »

This is the link.........

http://www.careersportal.ie/organisations/organisation.php?client_id=28

Wow.. really good site!