Cameras shoved in faces: 'Who'd want to be a garda?'

Cameras ‘shoved’ in faces and video footage edited and misrepresented online is now “a big problem" for gardaí, a policing forum in Cork has heard. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Cameras "shoved" in faces and video footage edited and misrepresented online is now “a big problem" for gardaí, a policing forum in Cork has heard.

“Who would want to be a garda?” Fianna Fáil TD Padraig O’Sullivan asked at Cork County Council’s Joint Policing Committee.

He raised the issue after a social media post by Cork City Councillor Lorna Bogue, leader of An Rabharta Glas or the Green Left, shared just over one week ago of an on-duty garda standing outside a McDonald’s, who she claimed was protecting the fast food chain during a protest. Gardaí subsequently dismissed the allegations.

Superintendent Michael Corbett of the Garda National Community Engagement Bureau (GNCEB), who is based in Fermoy, said that he would not comment on that individual case.

But gardaí are acutely aware of the challenges of being filmed while at work and of that video then being edited or taken out of context and shared online.

“Members are very conscious of the fact that they are being recorded by the public," he said.

“We’re seeing clips of things up and down the country - of protests, at accommodation centres – clips are edited and put on social media without context – so viewers are not aware of what happened 10 seconds earlier."

But the introduction of body-worn cameras for gardaí should be of “huge assistance” combatting such misinformation, he said.

“It certainly is a challenge. 

“Until we have legislation to address it directly, it is going to be problematic going forward.

“Everyone has a phone in their pocket now," said Supt Corbett.

A recruitment drive has been launched, with people up to age 50 now permitted to join the gardaí, to address the current recruitment and retention crisis.

Supt Corbett said he would not change the 29 years he has spent in the gardaí and "would encourage anyone with an interest to join”. 

Crime levels remained similar across 2022 and 2023 in Cork County, he said.

Assault causing harm dropped slightly in Cork City, from 295 reports in 2022 to 227 in 2023.

In Cork North, assault causing harm dropped slightly from 165 cases in 2022 to 158 cases in 2023.

Cork West, which had the lowest number of serious assaults, increased slightly, from 60 incidents of assault causing harm in 2022 to 72 in 2023.

In Cork City, four people died on the roads last year – an increase from the one death in 2022.

Six people died on the roads in Cork North last year compared to no deaths in 2022.

But Cork West saw a decrease in road deaths, with 11 fatalities in 2022 dropping to five deaths last year.

Rape cases increased slightly from 46 to 49 in Cork City between 2022 and 2023.

But in Cork North, rape cases dropped from 37 in 2022 to 17 in 2023. Cork West division saw rape cases rise from 14 in 2022 to 18 in 2023.

Drug dealing offences remained at almost the same level across all Cork garda division in 2022 and 2023.

Reports of domestic abuse to gardaí rose by 11% in Cork City; 16% in Cork North and 7% in Cork West between 2022 and 2023.

Some 130,000 speeding tickets have been issued by gardaí up to the end of October nationally. And on the Macroom bypass, some 360 speeding tickets have been given out since it opened.

Increased garda visibility is to be a key focus of the new policing plan for Cork County this year, Inspector Miriam McGuire said.