Month: August 2021

• 

About fifteen years ago, I spoke at an international policing conference in Barcelona on the subject of community engagement. I described the systems we had in place Ireland back then that allowed the police, the local authority and the community to work together to solve local issues. I had an attentive audience.

When we broke for coffee, I was surrounded by curious and envious police officers who wanted to know more because this was an alien concept to them. Looking at the fractious relationships that exist between the community and the police in some jurisdictions, that envy was understandable.

Much has changed in An Garda Siochana since then though, and I’m not so sure we would get such favourable reviews today. Our style of policing was unique in the relationship is had with the community. It was a natural style of engagement that occurred in every town and village in the country. Change is in the air though and with the Force currently being led by senior officers, recruited from the PSNI and other police forces, that’s not surprising.

The PSNI have a different style of policing which is understandable given the nature of their environment and the issues they deal with, but I don’t want us following their path. Or any other path for that matter.

The Commissioner will soon be treated more like the CEO of a company and the functions of the Garda Inspectorate and the Policing Authority will join forces to become a new Policing and Community Safety Authority.

An Independent Examiner of Security Legislation, will be established to have oversight of national security while the finances of GSOC will also be separated further from An Garda Síochána to give it more independence. It will assess and oversee the performance of the Gardaí and will have the power to conduct unannounced inspections of Garda stations.

The Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill is described as the biggest reform of policing in a generation but while reform and oversight is essential, we don’t want a police force that is removed from engaging with the public and buried in administration either.

I heard a priest talking about the number of his colleagues leaving the ministry because of the pressure they are under. The increased burden of administration was one of the main factors and while they are all getting older, their workload is growing. Because of the shortage of priests, some parishes are being combined, which is doubling the workload for the remaining priests with all the associated administration that goes with it.

He said they’re getting less time to do what they should be doing, working among the community, and instead, they’re getting bogged down in paperwork, balancing books, keeping records and filling forms. They feel they’re losing touch with the people, and I fear An Garda Siochana could be heading the same way.

In my time, most of us entering the Garda Training College in Templemore had preconceived notions of what the daily routine of a member of An Garda Siochana was like, based on the experiences we had from observing our local gardaí at home.

We saw them patrolling the streets on foot, driving patrol cars, dealing with the bad guys and keeping the community safe. As members of the public, we didn’t get to see the work that went on behind the scenes which was probably just as well, or we may have been turned off the idea.

Arriving in my first station in 1980, I soon appreciated the enormous amount of paperwork involved in policing. Reports, statements, record keeping, logs, returns, creating summonses were all part and parcel of a tour of duty. There was paper flying everywhere and it was usually in duplicate or triplicate, but the focus remained on being out and about dealing with the public. 

As technology improved over the years, the demand for paper increased. We thought the introduction of PULSE, the garda computer system, would revolutionise the way the Force kept records and would reduce paperwork to allow gardai to spend more time out on the street. It didn’t quite work out that way.

The computer records were backed up with hard copies which meant there was more paper in circulation than ever before. Additional records were required and, as we have seen in the past, they weren’t always accurate either despite the technology. Change doesn’t guarantee improvement.

Policing was simpler in1980, even though we didn’t have much. We wore bull’s wool uniforms that itched in the heat of summer and weighed a ton when they got wet in the winter and the raincoats didn’t keep out the rain. In fact, they made you sweat so much that you got drenched even when it wasn’t raining.

We got on with it though and the backbone of the job was patrolling the streets and talking to people. Getting to know the community was vital because you couldn’t solve anything without their help and their local knowledge. It was an uncomplicated, but effective, style of community policing.

That simplicity was diluted when management decided the organisation would function better using a business model. Business jargon entered the garda vernacular and policing plans were introduced in the noughties, but they didn’t always make sense, especially from a community policing perspective.

Reforming and modernising An Garda Siochana is all very well and it is an organisation that’s far from perfect. The vast majority of gardai are decent, well-motivated people who appreciate the fact that the most important weapon in the garda arsenal is the relationship they have with the community. That is our uniqueness and the only way to develop that is to be out and about, talking to the people, like we did in the old days. But I don’t see much of that now.

• 

The Coronavirus may have put a damper on lots of outdoor activities over the last year and a half or so but it would seem that the various lockdowns and travel restrictions haven’t affected the canine community. They have been roaming freely, if the amount of dog poo on the footpaths is anything to go by. There’s so much of it now, I’m beginning to wonder if Covid-19 acts as a laxative in the dog world. It would explain a lot.

This national problem has been highlighted constantly and for as many years as I can remember but nothing has changed. The lack of control of dogs by irresponsible owners is a serious issue and while local authorities have been banging on about it for forty years or more, there is more dirt visible now. Local authorities continue to complain that it is a very difficult problem to deal with.

As previously reported in the Echo, the former Mayor of County Cork Mary Linehan-Foley said some time ago that it is currently too hard to prosecute people for failing to clean up dog poo. She was speaking at a launch an education programme to encourage people to clean up after their dogs and said dog fouling is a “horrible, horrible issue” that has been on the rise.

“I think the fine should be quite strong,” she said. “At the end of the day maybe €100 or €150, which is the way it is now, but there is not a lot of fines being issued for dog fouling because people have to be caught in the act for proof.”

Since the Act was introduced in 1997, Cork City Council have issued a total of four fines, all of which were issued in 2017 and all have been paid. So, with only four fines issued in 21 years in Cork, what‘s the point in increasing the amount of the penalty? The councils say the difficulty in issuing fines for offences under section 22 of the Litter Pollution Act 1997 is that the litter warden must actually witness both the dog depositing faeces and the person in control of the dog, neglecting to remove it.

Awareness campaigns seem to have little impact. I have tried raising awareness with a few dog owners myself and I may as well have been talking to the dog. It’s a fact of life that some owners open their front door in the morning and hunt their pets out to foul the neighbouring property with unsightly poo. It doesn’t bother them because they have little or no regard for their neighbours or the community generally. They couldn’t care less so they’re certainly not going to take a blind bit of notice of a fancy awareness programme.

The answer is enforcement but that will require money and resources, because dog wardens and litter wardens need to be out and about to catch the animals fouling the streets. Catching them shouldn’t be too difficult. The dogs leaving their deposits are not being brought in from other towns or jetting in from Germany and Spain or arriving on cruise ships. They’re not being smuggled in from neighbouring villages to pollute our towns before being snuck back out. They’re local dogs and they don’t travel far from their own front door to leave their heap.

A spokesperson for litter management at City Hall previously suggested that the Litter Pollution Act 1997 requires a litter warden to practically catch them in the act. “This presents a particular challenge as the majority of dog fouling takes place early in the morning or late in the evening when dogs are being walked or let out unsupervised when the wardens are not on duty,” he said.

We all know that most of the fouling takes place early in the morning and late in the evening so surely that’s the time the dog wardens or litter wardens should be on duty. Burglars would have a field day if gardai only worked during daylight hours and there would be chaos too if the fire service only tackled fires that occurred during the day.

Local authorities need to be more inventive. If it is too difficult to secure a prosecution for this problem under the Litter Pollution Act, then use the Control of Dogs Act. That act requires dogs to be licensed. It also clearly states: ‘Your dog must be accompanied by and be under your effective control or the control of another responsible person if it is outside your home or premises or the home or premises of the person in charge of it.’

One estimate put the number of dogs in this country at 800,000 with less than a quarter of them licenced. Enforcing that piece of legislation would have an immediate and positive impact and would educate irresponsible dog owners more effectively than any awareness campaign. If a dog is roaming a public area with no owner in sight, seize the animal and put it in a pound. If owners had to collect their pets and pay pound fees plus a fine, they might be more inclined to take care of them.

Alternatively, we could look to the authorities in Beijing for some guidance. They launched a campaign against pet owners and banned residents from raising dogs taller than 35 centimetres after Beijing’s police department received complaints about people walking dogs without a leash, dog fouling and dogs causing a nuisance.

Owners’ refusal to tie up their dogs or clean up their dog’s droppings annoyed many visitors to the parks, so dog walking has been added to a blacklist of activities that are banned. To ensure the effectiveness of the campaign, the authority has recruited about 1,000 volunteers to watch for violations.

Now, there’s a tactic that will raise some awareness.

• 

Treasure hunting sounds interesting but, as someone who can never find the car keys or my wallet, even when they’re staring me in the face, I don’t see any point in trying to find something that’s well hidden. Some people can’t help themselves though.

There was a report on BBC recently about a current investigation taking place in Northern Ireland over the alleged removal of artefacts from a protected wreck of the Spanish Armada off the County Antrim coast.

Reports were received that divers may have taken objects from La Girona, an Armada warship, which sank off Portballintrae in 1588. Access to the site of La Girona is restricted under the Protection of Wrecks Act (1973) and anyone diving the restricted area without a licence may be prosecuted.

The wreck in Northern Ireland waters has special levels of protection under the law and people diving on wrecks around the coast have been asked to check the rules beforehand. The removal of artefacts without the proper authorisation could land you in hot water but it’s easy to see the attraction.

In 1942, the SS Tilawa was on its way to South Africa when it was sent to the bottom of the Indian Ocean by a Japanese submarine. With it went its cargo of 2,364 bars of silver valued at £32 million. The bars were headed for the South African Mint to be turned into coins.

They laid there undisturbed until 2017 when Ross Hyett, 67, a retired racing driver led a treasure-hunting mission to recover the bars of silver from the wreck and brought them to England where a dispute over ownership is being decided in court. Either way, Mr. Hyett will surely benefit financially from his find.

Metal detectorists like a good search too. I noticed a guy walking in the sea in front of me on the beach one day. The water was up to his knees, and he had a set of headphones on him. In one hand he had a metal detector and in the other he had what looked like a small sieve with a long handle.  I don’t know what he was hoping to find but a days’ beach combing would hardly bring in enough to cover a mortgage. Unless you know the right places to look of course!

Charlie Parker wrote in the Times about the largest gold nugget ever found in Britain. It was a 22-carat piece of gold discovered in a Scottish river by a treasure hunter. The location of the find is being kept a secret because they want to avoid attracting large numbers of gold hunters to the area.

Weighing in at 121.3g, it is the biggest of its kind in the UK and is thought to be worth £80,000. It was in two pieces when he found it, but when they were put together, they formed a doughnut shape with a hole in the middle. One mineralogist suggested the piece is so old that the hole could have been made with a Neolithic antler pick, which was used by farmers in the Iron Age.

If that’s true, then it’s highly unlikely the original owner will come back to claim his nugget so the finder hopes it will be purchased by a museum, but it may have to be handed over to the Crown estate. The authorities must be notified about finds like these. Keeping quiet will land you in bother.

We’ve had finds in this country too. A father and son unearthed treasure with the help of a metal detector in what was called the “archaeological find of the century” back in 1980 when the Derrynaflan Chalice was found in Tipperary.

The chalice was discovered in a bog, and it is thought that the hoard was buried in the ninth or tenth centuries by Viking raiders. Michael Webb and his son were using metal detectors to hunt for buried objects at the site of a former monastery in County Tipperary when they found an item that reminded them of the Ardagh Chalice. They knew they were on to a good thing, so they removed the items and brought them home. They didn’t know what they should do with them, so they contacted an archaeologist in UCC.

That set things in motion and the site immediately became an official dig. More artefacts were unearthed, and the Webb’s were given an award of 10,000 Irish pounds. They thought that was too low, so they refused to accept it and went to court instead, and the High Court ruled in their favour. The value of the hoard was estimated at 5.5 million Irish pounds and the government had to pay that amount or return the objects to the Webb’s.

The government appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court who ruled the hoard belonged to the State, but the Government wanted to encourage other hunters to report finds to officials, so they made a payment of 50,000 pounds to the Webb’s.

Not all detectorists set out to find hidden treasure though. In 1992, Eric Lawes was using a metal detector in a farmer’s field in East Anglia, in the UK, helping a friend to locate a hammer that he had dropped earlier. When his machine beeped, he thought he had found the missing lump hammer but what he discovered was a little more valuable.

He found what is now known as the Hoxne Hoard, a priceless Roman “treasure chest” of 14,780 gold and silver coins, plus 200 pieces jewellery, ornaments, and tableware.

Eric received £1.75m for his find, and although there was no legal requirement to do so at the time, he shared the cash with the farmer on whose land he had been searching. He also found the elusive hammer.

• 

I was surprised to learn that nearly half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce and almost half of those occur in the first 10 years of marriage, especially between the fourth and eighth anniversary. This is where the ‘seven-year itch’ comes from presumably.

The “seven-year itch” is when romantic partners experience turbulence and a potential point-of-reckoning around seven years together. Viewed as a critical juncture, the seven-year itch is defined as a time when couples either realise their relationship isn’t working, or they feel committed to their relationship.

Well, with 37 years of marriage behind us, my wife and I can safely say we negotiated that hurdle but there could be more traps ahead. The Austin Institute for The Study of Family and Culture using data from 4,000 divorced adults, identified the top reasons for a break-up in the United States to include infidelity by either party; spouse unresponsive to needs; incompatibility; spouse immaturity and emotional abuse.

Lack of communication is another pitfall, because they say good communication is the foundation of a strong marriage. Not being able to communicate effectively quickly leads to resentment and frustration for both, impacting all aspects of a marriage. OK, I get that, but we cracked this one very early in our relationship, because I learned my place. My wife does the talking and I do the listening, problem solved.

Trouble with finances is another issue and how the family money is handled can cause lots of stress. Again, it’s not a problem in my case because my wife looks after it all. She says I’m useless with money and who am I to argue. (See above)

Not being prepared for marriage was cited by 75% of couples as the reason for the demise of their married life particularly among younger couples who discovered that wedded bliss didn’t always automatically follow the ceremony, but it was the next one that really made me sit up and take notice. Lack of equality.

When one partner feels that they take on more responsibility in the marriage, it can alter their view of the other person and lead to resentment. It’s all about sharing and I think this could be our stumbling block. This could be the thing that sends us to the lawyers.

When Gaye and I started out in our married life, we didn’t have too many luxuries. We had a newly built bungalow in the countryside, which wasn’t unusual in those days, but it was far from finished. Even when we returned from our honeymoon there was still lots to be done but we had the basics.

It was 1984 and we were building it by direct labour. Money was tight, so we added bits and pieces as we got the finance. It was an exciting time to be starting out in our new life and we were in no hurry. Well, I was in no hurry.

While waiting for built-in wardrobes to be fitted, we used a few lengths of timber nailed together with extra nails extending from the cross piece to use as hooks for hanging our clothes. It wasn’t pretty but it was effective. It also helped that we didn’t have too many clothes.

When the new wardrobe arrived, the space was evenly divided at first. I had the left-hand side and Gaye had the right. We co-existed peacefully for a short while, but I soon began to feel intimidated. I was gradually being squeezed out. It wasn’t long before I had very little room, but my requirements were modest, so I didn’t complain. I thought everything would work out fine because I was young and naïve.

I was never into clothes but my wife, on the other hand, was and by the time we left that house she had wardrobes filled in several rooms but still complained about not having enough space. This, I was told by older and wiser friends, was the way of the world: easier to just accept it.

When we moved house in 2006, we went upmarket and inherited a walk-in wardrobe. An actual room for nothing but clothes. I could hardly contain myself, but my excitement was short lived. I foolishly thought this was for both of us, only my wife had other ideas. She had no intention of entering into a fair distribution agreement. Fifty-fifty was not in her vocabulary so I was reduced once again to a smaller allocation.

Over time, that space has almost disappeared completely. I am now reduced to a foot stool in the bedroom where I lay my few bits and pieces. I’m lucky to have it. From time to time, I get grief about having my clothes piled high on that little stool because, apparently, it looks unsightly but I’m not going to fight over it because I’ve heard too many scary divorce stories.

Like the one about the guy who got a divorce from his wife of 15 years. They split everything 50/50, including the house and the land around it. The ex-wife decided to build a house right behind the existing house, so the backs of the houses faced each other. Apparently, the ex-wife spent a lot of time in her backyard, so the ex-husband saw her all the time. He bought a female dog and named it after his ex-wife. He got great mileage from shouting at the dog: ‘Sally, you bitch! Get in here!’: ‘Sally you bitch! Quit pissing on the flowers!’ or ‘Sally, you bitch! Quit digging in the dirt!’

The police were called a couple of times, but there was nothing they could do because the dog was registered under the name of Sally, and it was in fact a bitch.

That sounds too stressful, so I’ll just make do with the stool.

• 

When I was a child, people often told me they were off to ‘The land of Nod’ when it came to bedtime. Nod was obviously a place where a good nights’ sleep was guaranteed so I should have paid more attention. I should have asked for directions because I could do with a trip there now, but nobody seems to know where it is.

I’ve checked Google Maps, but they only directed me to a sleepy East Yorkshire hamlet called “The Land of Nod” which is near Holme upon Spalding Moor, wherever that is. According to the Internet, there isn’t a lot going on there which is probably a good thing if sleep is what you’re after, but it’s not the place I’m looking for. 

There is another spot by the same name mentioned in the Bible and they reckon it might have been located to the East of The Garden of Eden but again, I drew a blank with Google Maps. History tells us it’s where Cain was sent after being cast out by God after killing his brother, Abel.

‘Nod’ means ‘to wander’ in Hebrew so the implication is that Cain, being in disgrace, was sent to wander aimlessly. I’m not sure how this relates to having a peaceful sleep though, because you would think that killing his brother might have given him a few sleepless nights but, there you go.

We all need sleep. We can’t function without it but the amount we need varies with age. Babies require about fifteen hours on average while your normal teenager needs about eight. That surprised me a bit because in my experience, teenagers need more sleep than the babies, and it’s a lot harder to get them out of bed too.

That’s not the only anomaly either. The experts tell us that a disruptive bedroom environment can prevent us from receiving enough sleep. Well, I can’t recall my children having any difficulty sleeping when they were teenagers, and their bedrooms could easily have been classified as disruptive environments.  

It was impossible at times to find the bed, or anything else for that matter, because of clutter. Dirty washing and organisms that would be comfortable in a Wuhan laboratory, hardly made ideal sleeping conditions but they managed fine.

As you get older you need less sleep apparently and I can appreciate that. I wake most days at 6am and it doesn’t seem to matter what time I go to bed, and I’m usually fresh enough to tackle the day, but I’ve noticed over the last year or so, I’ve been dreaming a lot.

Most of the dreams have the same theme. I’m at work in my uniform, surrounded by my former colleagues and having conversations that seem real. We are all working away when somebody discovers I shouldn’t be there because I had retired the previous year. That comes as a shock to us all and I gather up all my bits and pieces and leave. Again!!

Experts tell us there are lots of things going on in our brains while we’re asleep. Just because our eyes are closed doesn’t mean that our systems shut down. The brain is still active, and it could be that it’s trying to make sense of everything it has consumed during the day. But before that happens, we have to get to sleep and that can be hard to come by at times.

Being over tired, going to bed on a full stomach or having a lumpy mattress can make it difficult to drop off but there’s another cause too – Bedbugs!

According to the Mayo Clinic, bedbugs are small, reddish-brown parasitic insects that bite the exposed skin of sleeping humans and animals to feed on their blood. Although bedbugs aren’t known to spread disease, they can cause other public health and economic issues.

About the size of an apple seed, bedbugs hide in the cracks and crevices of beds, springs, headboards, bed frames and any other objects around a bed especially in places with high turnovers of night-time guests such as hotels, hospitals, or homeless shelters.

It can be difficult to distinguish bedbug bites from other insect bites or rashes. In general, the sites of bedbug bites are red, often with a darker red spot in the middle, itchy, arranged in a rough line or in a cluster, located on the face, neck, arms and hands. Some people experience an allergic reaction that can include severe itching, blisters or hives.

Bedbugs can crawl about as fast as a ladybird and can easily move around. If you’d like to know if you have these creatures or not, just look for bed bugs’ skeletons after moulting, bugs in the fold of mattresses and sheets, rusty–coloured blood spots due to their blood-filled faecal material that they excrete on the mattress or nearby furniture, and a sweet musty odour.

If that’s not enough to keep you awake, consider yourself lucky. As for me, I’m never going to bed again. If you should find signs of these bugs in your home though, there are ways of getting rid of them but don’t do what the man from Detroit in America did.

This guy lived in an apartment complex and became overwhelmed with an infestation of bedbugs. They were obviously getting to him so to solve the problem, he sprayed his couch and himself with alcohol. He then sat on the couch and had a cigarette. While waiting for the alcohol to dry, he spotted one of the creatures and tried setting fire to it.

The couch caught fire and so did the man who was badly burned and by the time the fire was extinguished, four apartments had been destroyed by flames, and two dozen more were damaged by water.

Sleep well!