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Write up on the Garda Reserve in the Sunday Independent

Comments

  • #2
    WilcoOut
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,778 ✭✭✭WilcoOut


    there have been several instances of reserves being assaulted

    Id imagine its a handful every weekend

    there are also many instances of reserves arresting armed and dangerous criminals

    this is nothing new

    but thankfully it is getting some print


  • #3
    Altezza98
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 52 ✭✭Altezza98


    There is a lot been wrote about the reserves as of late. Is the article in the independent its self any longer than the one on the net. :)


  • #4
    Tyron Jara
    Closed Accounts Posts: 265 ✭✭Tyron Jara


    Altezza98 wrote: »
    There is a lot been wrote about the reserves as of late. Is the article in the independent its self any longer than the one on the net. :)

    No its small but has a picture of a young female reserve on it. .


  • #5
    bluetop
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 383 ✭✭bluetop


    Very few people would work for 50c an hour, especially where the work consists of dealing with the dregs of society with an ever present threat of physical violence but this is what the "hard core" of Garda Reservists do.

    Between 400 and 500 of them -- the official but spurious claim is that there are 1,012 "attested" members and 166 "in training" -- turn up for work in stations all around the country every week. If they complete a minimum of 208 hours a year they qualify for an allowance of €1,000.

    Some have been injured, one female member severely so when a squad car was rammed by joyriders, and many have been assaulted while on the beat or in stations. One reservist, a retired member of the London Metropolitan Police, was involved in arresting an armed and dangerous criminal in Dublin last year.

    Since the initial flush of enthusiasm when the first reservists went on duty in 2006, a considerable number have left. Many had hoped that joining the Reserve would be a path into the full-time force but, with the embargo on public service recruitment, that hasn't happened.

    Some found antipathy towards them from rank and file members too uncomfortable. Others felt they weren't being utilised to any worthwhile extent. In 2010 the Garda Inspectorate recommended that garda management review the duties of reservists once they had completed three years' work, but nothing significant has happened by way of expanding their role or responsibilities.

    As such, their main operational roles are in assisting in public order policing, mostly big sporting events but with the new, shortened hours being worked under new garda rosters many find themselves on the beat alongside full-time members who at least have a salary and a pension to look forward to as they bear the abuse and threats that are an everyday part of their job.

    - JIM CUSACK


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