Garda reform

‘A policeman’s lot is not a happy one’, went a line in a famed Gilbert and Sullivan opera. A catchy tune and a sentiment shared by many. I salute the dedication and courage shown by most gardaí in combating crime and keeping the peace.

Sadly, recent revelations about false breath tests, and the litany of scandals preceding these, would be too over the top for a Keystone Cops movie or Police Academy send-up, let alone as material for a comic opera.

We hear of people ‘self-radicalising’ before performing some deadly act. Human beings are capable of anything.

But self-breathalysing? No offence to our police force, but upon hearing of the man who performed this procedure I had a mental image of a uniformed guardian of the peace looking at himself in the mirror and saying: ‘I have reason to believe you have partaken of intoxicating liquor. Would you mind blowing into this?’ Whereupon he would test himself for possibly being over the limit.

I reckon one would need to be well over the limit before indulging in such an exercise.

But gratuitous jesting about the crisis within An Garda Síochána (as can be seen especially on social media) can quickly turn sour. These are the people who hold the line between the continuance of a decent, stable society and the total breakdown of law and order.

In court cases a judge will often remind a jury that not only must justice be done. It must be seen to be done. The problem with the Garda right now is that, despite the integrity displayed by many members, the widespread public perception of the force is one of suspicion, fear and disbelief.

To change that perception there must be a root-and-branch change in the ethos and modus operandi of the force from the top down. Otherwise the proverbial thin blue line will wither and the dark side will prevail.

John Fitzgerald, Callan, Co. Kilkenny.