Garda Reservations

So, the Garda Reserve come into operation this month. Last year it was announced that a 4000-strong volunteer force would be created to assist police forces with local strength and knowledge . These Gardaí will be given full powers of arrest but will receive minimal training, somewhere in the amount of three days with additional segments once work has begun. Because they are a volunteer force they will not be paid.

When the minister for justice announced the Reserve he cited a number of other European countries with similar forces, countries, of course, with long traditions of civil defense and volunteerism dating back to war-times. Countries whose civil actions have been, in recent history, rather less controversial than our own people-made armies. This is new to us, and to pretend otherwise is just evasive.

It would also be helpful to acknowledge that we are doing this because we need 4000 more Gardaí, and this is a way of getting them without paying for them.

My experience with Gardaí has been, on the whole, unpleasant. It seems the younger you are (or look) the more authoritative police forces decide to be with you. Run-ins, on the rare occasions they have happened in the last few years, have put me in the wrong before I even started speaking, and reasoned explanations tend to aggravate matters. In general, Gardaí tend to suffer from that myopia that afflicts all professions that put an individual in absolute power over another all day everyday. Much like driving testers, and television license inspectors.

But at least these Gardaí are professionals, with years of training, a name to uphold and a career at stake. Can you imagine the kind of individual who will sign up for a job without pay, without institutionalisation, but with masses of power? Sorry to be cynical about this but sometimes cynicism seems the only realistic option. 3000 people have signed up so far.

Isn’t there huge security issues? Within a couple of weeks I can be filing paperwork in my local Garda station. I’m trying to think of a way to elaborate on this but it’s just so patently obvious I don’t see how I can.

And, of course, there was uproar when the plan was announced. The Garda Síochána refused to work with the Reserve, and only acceded the other week when a pay-deal was made. The public objected until the media got bored with the issue, and like everything else the fuss died down and things “progressed” anyway. As a nation we have become pathetically accepting in so many areas, and we never make a fuss because we are scared of losing what we’ve recently attained. The Money. The Reserve in new and everything new is good because the money is new and the money is good. Don’t rock the boat.