Garda Laura sets her sights on becoming super sleuth

GARDA Laura O’Brien started out on her new career at Templemore yesterday, aiming to become Ireland’s answer to Cagney and Lacey.

From Palmerstown, Co Dublin, she has her sights set on becoming a detective, an ambition she can set in motion when she takes up her assignment at Kilmainham garda station.

“I’d love to move into a detective unit and do fingerprint and scenes-type work,” the 21-year-old said. She had hoped her posting would be in Limerick, but is, nonetheless, pleased to be assigned to a busy station. “I am looking forward to the challenge of working in Kilmainham,” she said.

Before deciding to follow in her father’s footsteps and join the gardaí, Laura spent a year studying at Maynooth.

Her father is Detective Sergeant Christy O’Brien, a former Olympic oarsman.

Laura regards her chosen career as “a very challenging job, particularly in places such as Kilmainham which has a lot of crime and a big drugs problem.”

Although relatively new to the job, she recommends a career in the garda.

“It is a career I would encourage any young person to consider, particularly any person who is outgoing and wants to get involved with communities.” Being a member of the garda, she said, gave good job security. “And there are great opportunities in it,” she said.

Of the 170 gardaí who graduated yesterday, 138 have been assigned to stations in the Dublin Metropolitan Region.

Of the 32 going to stations outside of the DMR, eight have been assigned to Limerick city and another eight to Cork city.