My job as : a Garda

TheNog

Occupation: Member of An Garda Siochana on a regular unit

Qualifications held: Leaving Cert, BA in Policing Studies

Previous Jobs: Window Manufacturing, Sales Rep, Kitchen Porter, General Operator and Manufacturing Supervisor

Age: 33

Day in the Life: I work on what is called within An Garda Siochana, the regular. I am like one of those Gardai that you would see in the normal marked vehicles or on Beat Patrol. My normal working day or working night is varied and tbh in a job like this the best laid plans can go out the window in an instant. On my unit we do traffic checkpoints that supplement those done by Traffic Corp. We also respond to calls relating to crime which do entail burglaries, thefts, robberies, stolen cars, public order, assaults, people acting suspiciously or removing obstacles or animals on the roads etc etc. We also serve summons on people for court appearances and execute warrants

While we on the regular dont investigate the more serious crimes such as robberies or murders we are usually the first ones on the scene and are on call 24/7 all year round. For anyone wishing to join a particular group within AGS such as Fraud, Detective Unit, Traffic, Air Support etc are required to serve at least 3 yrs on the regular before applying for promotion or transfer to a specialised unit.

General Comments: I joined this job 3 yrs ago. As you can see above I have had a few other jobs and believe me there are a few more than that but each job had the same problem for me. All of them were the same routine over and over again. Working with the same people and doing the same tasks each and every day didnt really agree with me so I went for the Gardai. Since then I havent looked back. This job can be physically and emotionally draining. It is a dangerous job but highly satisfying for me. In one shift we can driving around at 4am with nothing happening to pursuing a car that wont stop with other patrol cars and the helicopter above or attending to a scene where a person has taken their life. We never know what is going to happen next and on occasion we may not finish when our shift ends because sometimes we might have to interview an arrested person for a crime. With my unit we get on very well and offer each other peer support which is vital after visiting a particularly gruesome scene. Bad experiences in this job go hand in hand with the good ones and despite popular belief the good experiences far outweigh the bad ones. In order for a person to be a godd Garda you need to have interpersonal and communicative skills. You must be able to walk into a violent situation and take charge by first trying to calm people or if that fails then an arrest is required.

I would be here all day trying to cover everything we do on the regular but I reckon I have covered most common of the tasks we do. I will try to answer any questions ye may have.

thumbtackjack

What is needed to be good at the job? and do you learn more from experience than what you are trained in at the college?

TheNog

thumbtackjack wrote: »

What is needed to be good at the job? and do you learn more from experience than what you are trained in at the college?

Good communication skills, able to perform under extreme pressure, display empathy, knowledge of legal matters and procedures, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork and a natural sense of nosiness.

Training in the college will only take you so far, something similar to learning in theory. When I was in training the college were trying out new role play learning to assist in theory learning with various situations but nothing beats on the job training tbh. As in alot of cases some things cannot be learned from books.

In essence training in the college is the building blocks and on the job experience develops from there.

KatCookie

What, roughly is the ratio of male:female? You hear the occasional bad story about women in the army, so im hoping its not the same for the Gardai..

Did you have to wait long before being accepted?

Does it affect your personal life? I mean, if you are single, when meeting new people, and you tell them your job, do you get a bad response? and do maried people with kids find it hard? (not you personally, but gardai in general)

TheNog

KatCookie wrote: »

What, roughly is the ratio of male:female? You hear the occasional bad story about women in the army, so im hoping its not the same for the Gardai..

Did you have to wait long before being accepted?

Does it affect your personal life? I mean, if you are single, when meeting new people, and you tell them your job, do you get a bad response? and do maried people with kids find it hard? (not you personally, but gardai in general)

The ratio of male to female Im guessing would be in the region of 70-30 to 60-40. This is just a guess so I could be totally wrong.
It doesnt matter what job it is we will always hear bad stories. TBH I dont let it affect me because I do my job as best I can and so Im only answerable to what I do not what anyone else does.

I applied and was accepted within the year. I think I applied in June/july and started in the college in May the following year. Really it depends on your placing within the Aptitude test, background checks and interview.

I have never had a problem where my job affects how people see me. There is of course the usual slagging from my friends but no stranger has ever abused me or walked off. If anything its the opposite.

I have kids from the very first day I started training and yes it can be tough. When training I left home on Sundays, returned on Wednesdays for the night, back to college on Thursday morning and home again on Friday evening.

Out of the college and working in a station can be tough. It is sometimes very diffcult to make plans. There are times where I have had to do OT to interview a suspect or search a house or both.

Bigdeadlydave

If you dont mind me asking what is the pay like and how are prospects for promotion?
I mean do people only "once in a blue moon" get to transfer to the different units like Detective etc?

TheNog

Bigdeadlydave wrote: »

If you dont mind me asking what is the pay like and how are prospects for promotion?
I mean do people only "once in a blue moon" get to transfer to the different units like Detective etc?

Here is the payscales as on the GRA website

http://gra.cc/payscales.shtml

Just to point out Attestation is at the end of Phase 3 of training and is the point where you move from being a student with no Garda powers to being a Probationer Garda with full powers.

Promotion in the job is naturally reliant on an individual's performance in the job. Usually a person must complete 3 yrs of service before seeking a transfer to another station or another area of the job but there has been cases where people with exceptional perfomance can move sooner than that. An example of this would be one fella in my class stationed in Limerick had the car course done in Phase 4 (2 yrs ago) whereas I am still waiting for mine to come up. It really depends on the stations. Dublin and Limerick stations would get preference due to the type of incidents that occur there compared to the country station I am in.

schoolboy1

Hey your probably going to laugh at me now but im only in junior cert and would love to pursue a career in this!

whats needed in leaving cert?,
would it be a good job if you ever need loans etc.?

Remmy

What kinda legal topics are taught at the college?

TheNog

schoolboy1 wrote: »

Hey your probably going to laugh at me now but im only in junior cert and would love to pursue a career in this!

whats needed in leaving cert?,
would it be a good job if you ever need loans etc.?

The requirements in the Leaving Cert are posted on the thread you started in the Leaving Cert forum.

Being a Garda does have advantages when getting loans from banks and credit unions because it is a steady job with little prospect (at the moment) of losing your job unless you mess up big time.

Remmy wrote: »

What kinda legal topics are taught at the college?

All criminal law is taught in the college involving such Acts as Public Order, Theft and Fraud Offences, Criminal Damage, Offences Against the State, all Traffic related offences etc etc. There is four legal books in total, 2 for traffic and 2 for everything else. There is about 200 pages in each book and pretty much all of it has to be remembered.

After that then there is Criminal Investigation techniques and Garda practice and procedures.

Remmy

TheNog wrote: »

The requirements in the Leaving Cert are posted on the thread you started in the Leaving Cert forum.

Being a Garda does have advantages when getting loans from banks and credit unions because it is a steady job with little prospect (at the moment) of losing your job unless you mess up big time.



All criminal law is taught in the college involving such Acts as Public Order, Theft and Fraud Offences, Criminal Damage, Offences Against the State, all Traffic related offences etc etc. There is four legal books in total, 2 for traffic and 2 for everything else. There is about 200 pages in each book and pretty much all of it has to be remembered.

After that then there is Criminal Investigation techniques and Garda practice and procedures.

Thanks for the info.I'd say working night shift could be quite tough.You say sometimes you had to continue working after your night shift,what was the longest stretch you had to work back-to-back?

TheNog

Remmy wrote: »

Thanks for the info.I'd say working night shift could be quite tough.You say sometimes you had to continue working after your night shift,what was the longest stretch you had to work back-to-back?

The busier the nights are the better cos the time goes quicker. If its not too busy then there is always files to do. It is very rare that there is nothing to do.

The longest amount of time I was in work was for 24hrs but I did get 2 hrs sleep after 16hrs and then back up to do some more work. Its not often this happens. Its happened twice to me in the last 2 yrs.

GA361

Hi Nog, thanks for all the usefull information so far.
I was just wandering how tough is the hearing test and do many people fail it?
Also is the upper body strength test in the pct very difficult?, is there a different standard for men and women?

Any info would be appreciated

TheNog

GA361 wrote: »

Hi Nog, thanks for all the usefull information so far.
I was just wandering how tough is the hearing test and do many people fail it?
Also is the upper body strength test in the pct very difficult?, is there a different standard for men and women?

Any info would be appreciated

The hearing test isnt difficult. Its not geared towards people with super sensitive hearing but you would need to have pretty good hearing.

The PCT is actually not as bad as it looks. While doing the circuit it is best to pace yourself for the first 2 laps and then give it your all for the third and last lap. I cant remember the times for males and females but you would want to be seriously unfit to fail the circuit. Believe it or not I did the circuit with a badly sprained ankle from 2 days earlier.

The push-pull machine is a slightly different story and it did deceive some in my group who failed it. What I did was start off with the push bars in my chest and as I pushed my body forward using my legs I also pushed the bars out from my body till I got to the end. For the pull part of it is the same but in reverse. Arms extended and pulling backwards using arms and legs. Its best to put every bit you have into it.

GA361

Thanks a million Nog. That was very helpful.
Hopefully they'll be recruiting again within the next 2-3 years

Martini88

If you have been previously arrested for a serious offence, but never cautioned or charged, should you be ok for background checks? Surely it's happened to some members?

Freemasonry

do you think they will ever start recruiting again?