Irish police officer suspended for three years cleared of wrongdoing having given unclaimed bicycle to "vulnerable and isolated" elderly man for transport during the pandemic

The more I read the more angry I get at the utter needless harm done to a decent man and his family, and waste of public resources, which I'm sure could be much better allocated elsewhere.

I do understand the need for a bit of due process, and it's often those who want to get away with certain criminal behaviour who insist the police they should be 'catching proper criminals', but honestly. How could it go that far for so long without one senior member of the service challenging what they were doing.

Oh, and other relevant facts are:
- The bike had been at the garda station for years, and was awaiting disposal (typically via Wilsons auctions)
- He told the man the bike was only on lend, until the shop the man's own bike was at was open again after covid restrictions lifted, and then it'd be taken back.
- The garda evidence sticker was left on the bike, and he told the old man not to remove it.

Maybe not "by the book" procedure wise, but the intent was good, and no one was hurt or deprived of anything.

This is unfortunately the shape of modern policing. There are good reasons for it at times but far too often it just makes an tiny incident into an actual shit show. There was an interesting show on following police officers who had been accused of essentially racism. Their body cam footage shows that they could have handled the situation slightly better but fundamentally they were dealing with an abusive, nasty woman who attacked them and had already threatened to knock them out. Took a long time to sort out, no doubt hundreds of thousands of pounds of money, untold strain on the officers accused and they were eventually cleared. Despite this they still paid out to the woman involved. 

All the checks and balances to try and make sure the police are sqeaky clean serve to make simple situations a nightmare. I wouldn't be surprised if we really struggle to get police in the next few decades because its a hiding to nothing. 

Let's be honest, the police are having to swing the other way because of all the years of crap service and institutionalised racism/homophobia, etc., etc., ...and not least the way they all appear to be happy to turn a blind eye to anything when the offender flashes a service badge.  I have some sympathy for them, but not a lot.

Which is ridiculous because pandering to any group of people and indulging them doesn't lead to anything but worse behaviour and entitlement. I think the most shocking part was watching all the "community leaders" who couldn't see anything through another lens but racism. Everything from the woman was perfectly reasonable and nothing the police did was. These are the people who are being used to interface and represent minority communities. I genuinely would love to see a situation where they wouldn't blame the police and put the blame on the person committing the offence. 

So every police officer is corrupt, most are racist etc.  Do you actually believe this?  
What then are the three least racist / homophobic professions; starting with yours and what is your proof that they would not also be deemed racist etc if investigated to the same level as the police?

Just askin.

Agree there should be checks and balances. And he probably should have had a mild rap on the knuckles from his sergeant for what he did.

What he got instead was wholly disproportionate, and heads should roll in Garda HQ over this.

He should have been rewarded for showing initiative and compassion for actually serving his community at a time when it was needed.

Never mind a report on the investigation of this particular garda. I'd like to see an investigation into those who thought their reaction was in any way proportionate. And I don't accept the 'we're not allowed to be racist or make rape jokes anymore, so now we've got to crack down on everything' excuse.