Hypothetical about safety order

aN.Droid

Hey there,

A bit of a made up scenario here. Say one person (hereby know as Jack) and other (Jill) where a couple for a while. They then broke up at a later stage and Jack was not happy with the break up. If Jack were to threaten Jill in front of people and also to threaten present company of Jill is the only thing the guards are good for is advising Jill to take a safety order out against Jack?

This is an argument I have been having with a friend. He says all the guards can do is to advise but surely the guards can do more then that such as visiting Jack and giving him a scare by just being there? What if Jack where to cause damage to property? What if the property was not of Jills but of another housemate or neighbor?

Thanks for any opinions given on this!

Delancey

If Jack damages property belonging to Jill or anyone else then he is open to prosecution for Criminal Damage.
The Gardai are not a uniformed force whose job is to ' scare ' people at the request of disgruntled ex-partners - they are there to enforce the law , the expectation of a ' quiet word ' while understandable is probably in many circumstances somewhat wide off the mark .
Having a Safety Order in place gives Jill a much stronger position to protect herself and crucially it strenghtens the hand of the authorities in dealing with Jacks threats.

aN.Droid

Delancey wrote: »

If Jack damages property belonging to Jill or anyone else then he is open to prosecution for Criminal Damage.
The Gardai are not a uniformed force whose job is to ' scare ' people at the request of disgruntled ex-partners - they are there to enforce the law , the expectation of a ' quiet word ' while understandable is probably in many circumstances somewhat wide off the mark .
Having a Safety Order in place gives Jill a much stronger position to protect herself and crucially it strenghtens the hand of the authorities in dealing with Jacks threats.

So the only way for the guardai to take action would be for a safety order to be placed? Even if Jack threatened violence towards Jill? Seems allot of work for something a few quiet words would surely take care of in 90% of situations!

Delancey

I hear you alright and see where your coming from but a Garda having a ' quiet word ' could find his/her good deed backfiring badly - what if Jack killed Jill ? The Garda would be accused of not taking official action - there is a phrase that says '' if its not written down then it never happened '' , in these circumstances a quiet word will not cover the Gardai.

Take another example - Garda has a quiet word with Jack who subsequently makes a complaint to the Garda Ombudsman alleging harassment ?

Obtaining a Safety Order is better for everyone - better for Jill and it gives the Gardai firmer grounds to take action if nescessary rather than relying on the words of a possibly disgruntled former partner. The Gardai cannot and should not be expected to act as referee in disputes like this.

tayto lover

A Garda once told me that they cannot act without having a written and signed complaint. No written complaint = no action.

MagicSean

Gardai have very limited powers when it comes to domestics and in general will not act without a written complaint unless they view the behaviour because in many cases the victim won't follow through. A safety order gives them a power of arrest and gives a greater assurance of the cooperation of the victim in court

If the offender is as you say he is then a quiet word wouldn't be worth the paper it's printed on and may result in a reprisal so it can often do more harm than good.

It's really quite simple. Either you are in fear or you aren't. If you are in fear then get an order. There is no reason not to have one. If you are not in fear then stop wasting Garda time and get a solicitor.

The_fever

Bear in mind it is not possible to have a safety order put in place against anyone . Jack and Jill would have to have been living together for at least six months at some stage . From what I believe .