Tackling crime - Community project a good start

Relations between wayward youngsters and the Garda Síochána are often a charade in which antisocial behaviour in defying the gardaí becomes a means of achieving social status in communities where relations with the gardaí are adversarial.

Resolving conflict involves people on each side of a problem understanding each other. Even within a family, relations will inevitably become dysfunctional if the authority figure is considered intolerant. This is all the more so within a community if the authorities are seen as the enemy.

Bitterness towards gardaí is a recipe for trouble within any community. Some gardaí will dismiss suggestions that they should try to understand and help antisocial elements to be more responsible as just “nanny state” nonsense.