IPicture of Garda carrying Assault Rifle URL:https://ascraeus.org/pictures/HK416.png > Turning and turning in the widening gyre > The falcon cannot hear the falconer; > Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; > Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, > The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere > The ceremony of innocence is drowned; > The best lack all conviction, while the worst > Are full of passionate intensity. These lines from the Yeats Poem _The Second Coming_ have been echoing in my mind since last week's horrible events at the Regency Hotel in Dublin[1]. Seeing camera pictures of two men strolling into a hotel bearing assault weapons was bad enough, but the implications for the country as a whole were worrying. Among the early coverage and reaction to the shooting were claims by the Hotel's manager that he had been unable to contact Gardai[2] on the 999 emergency number[^1]. It was reported that the manager went on to state that "Around four minutes after his phone call, the first fire brigade arrived at the scene, followed by an ambulance and then the gardai arrived." There was simply no way that the powers-that-be in Ireland were going to permit this type of coverage to go unanswered. We got the first hints of the reaction during a counter-Pegida demonstration in Dublin on Saturday evening. What appears to have been a somewhat ill-tempered demo was ratcheted up into a full-blown security situation by the deployment of the Gardai's "Public Order" Branch. At first in light riot kit[3], baseball hats, batons and face-smashing armored gloves, the gardai soon escalated their response to full on Darth-Vader gear[4]. As always when police retreat behind dehumanising armour, the result was utterly predictable[5]. What's really noticeable in those pictures is what's not visible - garda numbers. Most of the 'light brigade' appear not to be wearing any formal garda identification at all - one garda's numbers are visible on his shoulder flashes, but the other gardai in that picture don't have these visible at all. While that is bad enough, the pictures of the 'heavy brigade' are even more worrying - note that while the garda helmets appear to have numbers on them (e.g. the garda at the left of the picture) the visors have been very carefully placed by almost all the gardai to obscure those numbers behind the visor. While I accept that the helmets *should* also have the garda numbers displayed on the back of the helmet, that's not of much value to someone who cannot see the back of the helmet, i.e. someone who's on the receiving end of a baton. This was all, however, by way of a sideshow. After mounting criticism[8] over the weekend of both the Gardai and the Government regarding the Regency Hotel shootings, and a related murder in Dublin, the official state response was unveiled today. > The Garda is to establish a new **permanent** 55-strong armed > support unit for Dublin in the wake of escalating gang-related crime. What such a new permanent force will be used for was made clear[7] even before the announcement was made. > On Seville Place, a short distance from Dublin’s financial > district, four heavily armed officers from the Garda’s Emergency > Response Unit, kitted out with protective eye wear, body armour > and headgear, were backed up by at least 12 uniformed members and > plain clothed armed detectives. **Cars, vans and cyclists were > being stopped at random with people asked for identification and > to explain their movements.** In other words: _Ihre Papiere, bitte_. Take a good look at the photos of one of these checkpoint[9]. In one of them, a member of the gardai is clearly carrying a Heckler&Koch 416 Assault Rifle[10] on the streets of Dublin. I'm not sure, but I think that the Irish State managed to face down a massive, well funded and resourced illegal terror organisation on its own soil for nearly thirty years without resorting to acts such as these. Take another look at those pictures. These Gardai all have their faces covered and are wearing what most people would call combat armour. If one accepts the rationale behind their deployment, then you can see that there would be sound operational reasons for that, mostly to protect the officers. What cannot be jutified, however, is, yet again, the complete lack of any identifying numbers on those gardai combat uniforms. Nothing. These heavily armed men are being sent out onto the streets, are demanding Papers and 'Explanations of Movement' from passers-by, and there is quite literally no way anyone can ascertain who they are should anything go awry. Anyone who looks at those pictures and isn't profoundly upset at what they say about our police, our government and our country is missing the point of what's happening here. This is the complete abandonment by the state of the Peelian Principles of 'policing by consent'[11]. That is frankly terrifying. [1] http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0205/765708-one-person-injured-in-shooting-incident-at-hotel/ [2] http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/rampage-three-999-calls-unanswered-as-gunmen-launched-shooting-spree-34430021.html [3] http://is.gd/Ttulzf [4] http://is.gd/hI3pnH [5] http://www.thejournal.ie/protest-gardai-batons-pegida-2588699-Feb2016/ [6] http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0209/766496-gangland-shooting-dublin/ [7] http://is.gd/S4o0Wr [8] http://www.herald.ie/news/where-were-gardai-lack-of-surveillance-at-hotel-comes-under-fire-34431809.html [9] http://www.broadsheet.ie/2016/02/09/uzi-street/ [10] https://ascraeus.org/pictures/HK416.png [11] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/policing-by-consent/definition-of-policing-by-consent [^1]: Incidentally, did you know that 999 is no longer operated by the state, but rather by a contractor