'I'm alive — that's the main thing,' says garda in car rammed by joyriders
A Garda car was rammed during an incident in Cherry Orchard, Dublin, recently.
One of the gardaí whose patrol car was rammed by joyriders in Dublin has spoken of her relief to be alive after the shocking incident.
“I’m alive, that’s the main thing," she said on Wednesday night, in a statement issued through the Garda Representative Association (GRA).
She was one of two female officers who responded to reports of dangerous driving in the Cherry Orchard area of Dublin on Monday evening.
Their car was rammed twice as a mob of teenagers, some as young as 13, screamed for the car to be rammed.
The gardaí had to seek medical attention afterwards and are now off duty on medical grounds.
A garda source said that 15 frontline gardaí, mostly GRA members, have resigned in the Ballyfermot District, which includes Cherry Orchard, in the last two years.
Detective Garda Mark Ferris, the GRA representative for the Dublin Metropolitan Region West Division, said there is a huge lack of frontline gardaí to uphold the law in the area.
He also said some members do not have the training to drive using lights and sirens, and fear internal disciplinary action if they activate them.
A GRA member who spoke at a meeting in Dublin last night said frontline policing has been drastically cut while too many officers are tied up in excessive red tape and form-filling.
“We have turned reactive, not proactive, in many disadvantaged urban communities and isolated rural communities — 'fire brigade' style policing instead of operating a high-visibilty, intensive, and consistent community-based policing model,” the member said.
