Dungarvan Garda Station

My last adventure: The Dungarvan Garda Sation. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I am a criminal justice major so during my time here, I got to experience some aspects of Ireland's criminal justice system. During class today, instead of staying in the classroom, we got to tour the local garda station and go watch some cases in their city court afterwards. I personally felt it was a better way to spend out morning rather than being stuck in a classroom for two hours.

The station was really cool and very different from a police station in America. The station here only has five police officers, five. Do you know how little that is? When we walked into the first "office" area, there was one officer that was in charge of answering the phones, watching security cameras, inputting data into the computers, AND handle any prisoners that may come in. That is 4 jobs that ONE person has to do. In America, there is someone handling each other those jobs, sometimes, even two officers are in charge of one job. Their squad cars were also so different than the ones America officers have. In the US, the standard car is a SUV that has a barrier between the front and back seat, a holding area in the back, and a computer in the front seat used for traffic stops. The cars in Ireland, all they have are lights and sirens. No barrier, no computer, no holding area. It is just a regular Honda with garda paint on it. So, if a criminal is in the back seat and wants to hit the officer driving, they could.

The biggest difference is their gun policy. In the US, every officer carries a gun on their hip and another bigger gun in their squad car. Very few times, if ever, are they seen without a gun at their disposal. In Ireland, no officers carry. In this station specifically, there is only one gun in the station and only one person had access to it. No other officer or staff member can carry it. There is a section of garda that is called the armed forces unit that does carry and has guns at their disposal but for regular officers, they don't feel the need to carry one with them. 

The citizens of Ireland trust the garda, the most recent poll shows that the garda have a 95% approval rate which, as an American, seems impossible. It wasn't always like this though, the policing in Ireland used to have a very complicated relationship with its community. Seamus Heaney even wrote a poem about the tensions and fear a rural Irish family felt after a police officer visited their home. The officer's visit symbolized the oppressive presence of law enforcement during the time of political unrest in Ireland. I thought this was an important poem to connect because of the massive change in opinion. 

"Arithmetic and fear

I sat staring at the polished holster

With its buttoned flap, the braid cord

Looped into the revolver butt"

This section of the poem depicts how the child felt staring at the gun that hung at the officer's hip. He is clearly uncomfortable and won't make any movements that may risk the officer pulling his gun out at him. This fear around guns is not uncommon and unfortunately very prevalent in the States. The Garda choosing the not carry was to bring the community peace. Overall, I really enjoyed being able to walk around the station and seeing how different they run things compared to the US.