Security guards on Dublin Bus

Yeah. Limited scope. Limited powers. It might help a bit though.

The hours of operation amused me a bit though. 2pm to 2am.

Because scumbags don't get out of bed before lunch, is that the thinking?

Imagine the scumbags who'd get on the busses if they thought they'd guaranteed an aggressive response - they'd probably even pay their fare.

This is not about any physical altercations.

Many members of the public won't report anti social behavior and even those that do don't want time taken up on a court appearance as a witness.

By having security personnel on routes that have a history of issues, you will stop some of it and diffuse situations, but you also have someone that as part of their job, makes reports on incidents, thus the cctv can be downloaded and the gardai have someone who will attend a court as a witness.

Just having someone there is not to be underestimated. Years ago there were ticket inspectors on each and every bus. They didn't have a security mandate but they did keep an eye on things. That is all that is needed.

We need a dedicated transport police in Ireland, with actual powers to detain the scum until the Gardaí arrive. It should be a fully funded 24 hour service.

This would give the Gardaí a break from their core duties.

Also the completely pointless Garda patrols on say the Portlaoise services in the middle of the day are very frustrating. I use the services late on Saturday's and that's when they are needed, but that doesn't fit their narrative.

https://www.dublinbus.ie/news/introducing-our-new-safer-journey-team

(couldn't get the link to work)

It's not a joke.

Long overdue.

Oh for christ sake.

The poster I was replying to was saying the 5ft security guard would be no help with a junkie wielding a syringe. I was saying don't judge a book by a cover.

Security is a visual deterrent. Their size does not come into it, it is a person whose job it is, to keep an eye on things. Actually Ive a friend who is a security guard. She's about 5'4 and not familiar with any martial arts that I'm aware of, but when she says sit down, people sit down. People won't be openly dealing drugs on the bus if there is a security guard on it. A couple would not have a shag in the back of the bus if there is security on it.

Some countries have it where it's part of the national police but a dedicated unit of the police force.

BTP only cover railways they don't cover buses generally unless it's a transport hub with both bus and rail. Also in the UK police forces are regionalised the BTP are the only police that operate nationwide. A lot of the work of the BTP appears to be dealing with terrorism and football hooliganism issues that aren't as big in Ireland.

It's all down to a lack of consequences.

Encouraging young adults to down their drink unusually fast before they get on a bus that could take up to 45mins….what could be wrong about that?? Ridiculous

Yeah that was myself who posted about that.

Thats usually been the case anyways if a bus driver didn't allow them on a previous bus, they'd usually down it before trying the next bus, so nothing new there. The benifit of this approach is that the security/inspector can turn them away at the stop if they seem drunk(/disorderly).