Comments on: Oh Dear scare-tactics media again.

By: Community policing not what you think. at Irish Election

Community policing not what you think. at Irish Election — Mon, 21 May 2007 07:00:53 +0000

[...] to Europe we are quiet safe. Yet according to a recent European survey we think we have one of the highest crime rates. That leads me to suspect that compared to the rest of Europe we fear crime more and this community [...]

By: Crime at Irish Election

Crime at Irish Election — Mon, 14 May 2007 09:05:39 +0000

[...] of the perceptions is that the country is awash with crime that we are a gangland mecca with the highest crime in Europe. And many people [...]

By: Be Afraid. at Irish Election

Be Afraid. at Irish Election — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 19:26:05 +0000

[...] One of the main points in Michael Moore’s movie Bowling for Columbine was that the media was making the people scared. We see this already in the media where newspapers come up with scarce mongering headlines to grab attention. But Fine Gael love to do it as well. Here is a site of there’s I came across. http://www.safestreets.ie/. With its blood red banner and alarmist text it screams be afraid be very afraid. But if as they say Anti-social behaviour is hurting our society. Every day, in every neighbourhood, [...]

By: simon

simon — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 06:54:34 +0000

Actually yes McDowell has published more stats and reformed the stats process more then any other previous justice minister.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 23:54:15 +0000

"Yes the government has failed dismally to get the media to use decent figures." What decent figures? The Chairman of the Expert Group on Crime Statistics wrote in 2004 that "Ireland appears to be in a relatively backward position with regard to criminal justice statistics at present". Has something dramatic happened to the quality of the statistics since then?

By: mollie malone

mollie malone — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 12:22:18 +0000

william – spot on
-i agree with your point about the gardai
if they can tell you theres nothing we do can do about that- they will
it is almost as though they are taking pleasure in it

you actually hear people on radio stations telling presenters about serious issues like anti-social behaviour in messy areas and the local people start to believe that the gardai can do nothing about it -not that they are too bloody lazy to do it

and the suffering goes on for the tax paying public and the frail and the elderly
of course they can do undercover operations

it isnt the morris tribunal that has done for the gardai
its their own responses in local communities

By: William

William — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 20:33:49 +0000

People’s perceptions are not that wide of the mark.

Many gardaí in Ireland are bone idle and are skilled at putting pressure on people who call them not to report crimes. “Well, you’d have to come down to the station to make a statement… no I’m not sure when I’d be there, I might be on patrol.”

Even if the crime does get reported, it is likely to be ‘taken into account’ where someone collared for a different crime is told that they will get a lighter sentence if they admit to more crimes of this type.

The scope for abuse here is enormous.

By: mollie malone

mollie malone — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 08:52:06 +0000

oh this is just silly season stuff -but it covers the four seasons

the media generally are not interested in any serious way about crime, the criminal justice system, the prison system, the kind of people who go to prison over and over again, why they go there, what happens in there, what happens when they come out

neither are they interested in the interventions the state should make in young offenders lives to stop them becoming habitual offenders

we could put the media in the dock about their sins which are mostly about not investigaing serious stories properly, and why they cant be arsed to do their work properly

a good example of the media not doing their stuff is the morris tribunal the investigation into the gardai in donegal

one journalist from donegal sitting there full time in dublin a few others dropped in and left quickly
the morris tribunal a really important investigation – but not to the media in general
it is too damned expensive to pay someone to sit all day at a tribunal into garda behaviour as far as theyre concerned

rte radio vincent brownes show to be fair are the only media who covered this in a consistent way and thats what public service broadcasting should be about

its far easier to put some crap about some non -entities from the world of pop or soccer on the front page ……..too easy

and before i go to my garden we mustnt let the opposition of the day off the hook -
they always say crime is rising no matter who they are …… it fills a space

crime is a serious issue but it should never be trivialised like this