Gardai

[Meridian]

Your 2nd example is a bit reductive.

At the other end of the reductive "Why have a single garda in a station in each parish" is "Why not just get rid of Garda Stations altogether and have them all controlled by one central control room"? I'm sure you can see that would be just as impractical as having a single garda at each station in each parish waiting to react to local problems.

There should be a happy medium that would see sufficient gardai out and about locally, with local knowledge, to help stop crime.

You are right.

Just politics will not allow for Garda stations to close as it portrays a certain image amongst the public who think Gardai operate like the fire service.

I don't think they have the numbers anymore for that old fashioned view ot policing

 

[TheOutdoorThreadmill]

So instead of the above then you could have a situation where you could have a Garda sitting at a desk in every single station throughout the counties above, that is an awful lot of Gardai just on station duty, meaning that, if something kicks off, they have to stay where they are and they call the vehicles and members to the scene.

The difference above is that to Joe Soap, the 2nd example is great, because the local station in the parish is open.
But that approach is ridiculous.

I don't know is it all that ridiculous, one garda to man each station is only circa 4% of the entire force. They could also be able to deal with anything in a certain radius of the station probably a lot quicker.

 

[Meridian]

I don't know is it all that ridiculous, one garda to man each station is only circa 4% of the entire force. They could also be able to deal with anything in a certain radius of the station probably a lot quicker.

So in order to deal with the situation outside of the station then they are not as such manning the station.

 

[Sham Corkman]

I don't know is it all that ridiculous, one garda to man each station is only circa 4% of the entire force. They could also be able to deal with anything in a certain radius of the station probably a lot quicker.

Did you just divide 17,500 Garda by 569 Garda stations and get your 4%?

So do these 4% man the Garda Station 24hrs a day, 7 days a week? It’s a bit more complex than that, even in its most simplest form.

There’s 8,760 hours in a year, that means to cover 569 stations 24x7 that’s 4,984,440 hours of coverage needed.

Let’s say a Garda works 40hrs a week, or 2,080 hours a year, but you have to drop that to allow for holidays, sickness, training and so on. So drop that to say a conservative 80% availability, most companies would use 70-75% availability of workforce. But let’s stick to 80%, that’s 1,664 hrs a year per Garda available to work the job.

In order to man all Garda 569 stations 24/7 with just one Garda that 2,995 Garda needed, or 17% of the 17,500 Garda force. Or 8.5% if you reduced to just 12hrs coverage.

 

[Happyhonkaman]

Well it's a good thing and a bad thing I suppose.

It means they save on human resources having say 12 controllers in a control room say in Anglesea Street and all 999 Garda calls from Cork City/ County/ Waterford/ Tipperary and Limerick all go through there.
They control all calls incoming and then allocate them to the units in the respective areas.
They would have a high ranking officer in the room as well should a major incident arise so decisions can be made immediately

So instead of the above then you could have a situation where you could have a Garda sitting at a desk in every single station throughout the counties above, that is an awful lot of Gardai just on station duty, meaning that, if something kicks off, they have to stay where they are and they call the vehicles and members to the scene.

The difference above is that to Joe Soap, the 2nd example is great, because the local station in the parish is open.
But that approach is ridiculous.

I came across somebody collapsed yesterday morning cycling to work. There was people around him so I didn’t stop but went into the closest Garda station to make sure someone with medical training would get to him quickly. There was something really odd about their reaction which might explain what Speedy is saying. It was a kind of ‘well thanks for telling us, but we wont be doing anything about it’ vibe

I had said it to the missus last night and reckoned no one even left the station

 

[TheOutdoorThreadmill]

Did you just divide 17,500 Garda by 569 Garda stations and get your 4%?

So do these 4% man the Garda Station 24hrs a day, 7 days a week? It’s a bit more complex than that, even in its most simplest form.

There’s 8,760 hours in a year, that means to cover 569 stations 24x7 that’s 4,984,440 hours of coverage needed.

Let’s say a Garda works 40hrs a week, or 2,080 hours a year, but you have to drop that to allow for holidays, sickness, training and so on. So drop that to say a conservative 80% availability, most companies would use 70-75% availability of workforce. But let’s stick to 80%, that’s 1,664 hrs a year per Garda available to work the job.

In order to man all Garda 569 stations 24/7 with just one Garda that 2,995 Garda needed, or 17% of the 17,500 Garda force. Or 8.5% if you reduced to just 12hrs coverage.

My apologies, I hadn’t realised I was actually tasked with designing the timetable for it. I will do better the next time

 

[Drucker]

Because of advances in communications and changes in lifestyle we no longer need as many Garda stations. Same with banks, post offices, churches, shops, pubs, etc.

We need to be protected from crime and to feel safe when we are going about our daily lives. How that’s delivered is the question I suppose. When is the last time anyone went to the motor tax office to tax their car? Or went to a bank to cash a cheque? Or a post office to buy a postal order to send money to someone? Or a church to pray?

Everyone has remote monitored burglar alarms now, and more and more people are getting “ring” type video surveillance systems. The only thing most people would need from the Gardaí is a feeling of safety when out and about. Visible Gardaí can deliver that by reassuring people that they are there.

 

[Meridian]

Because of advances in communications and changes in lifestyle we no longer need as many Garda stations. Same with banks, post offices, churches, shops, pubs, etc.

We need to be protected from crime and to feel safe when we are going about our daily lives. How that’s delivered is the question I suppose. When is the last time anyone went to the motor tax office to tax their car? Or went to a bank to cash a cheque? Or a post office to buy a postal order to send money to someone? Or a church to pray?

Everyone has remote monitored burglar alarms now, and more and more people are getting “ring” type video surveillance systems. The only thing most people would need from the Gardaí is a feeling of safety when out and about. Visible Gardaí can deliver that by reassuring people that they are there.

You said it, visibility is where it is at, hence all the battenburg type livery on all new patrol cars for the last 2 years.
They are certainly more noticable now and it is creating that narrative that you saw a patrol car once that day so gives off the impression that Gardai are around

 

[BBAWS]

I came across somebody collapsed yesterday morning cycling to work. There was people around him so I didn’t stop but went into the closest Garda station to make sure someone with medical training would get to him quickly. There was something really odd about their reaction which might explain what Speedy is saying. It was a kind of ‘well thanks for telling us, but we wont be doing anything about it’ vibe

I had said it to the missus last night and reckoned no one even left the station

There’s 2 complete opposites in the organisation. Those who will go above and beyond and those who would sleep on the floor if there was work in the bed.

I was out running last week and found an iPhone, I was halfway between Mayfield and Glanmire so handed it into Mayfield Garda Station. First lad I met there told me he couldn’t accept it cos I found it in Glanmire. Said it would only gather dust once dropped in anyway and suggested I held onto it. I name dropped the Sgt who runs the station there who I know and all of a sudden he was willing to take the phone and filled in the paperwork.

Within 24 hours the owner had the phone back.

 

[dennisfallen]

There’s 2 complete opposites in the organisation. Those who will go above and beyond and those who would sleep on the floor if there was work in the bed.

I was out running last week and found an iPhone, I was halfway between Mayfield and Glanmire so handed it into Mayfield Garda Station. First lad I met there told me he couldn’t accept it cos I found it in Glanmire. Said it would only gather dust once dropped in anyway and suggested I held onto it. I name dropped the Sgt who runs the station there who I know and all of a sudden he was willing to take the phone and filled in the paperwork.

Within 24 hours the owner had the phone back.

Useless fucker.