The overwhelming majority of police officers are decent, courageous public servants — but a small minority exploit the trust and access of their uniform to prey on vulnerable women seeking help. Rooting them out demands better vetting, sharper supervision, a properly focused Police Ombudsman, and a whole-system commitment to ensuring those entrusted to protect victims are worthy of that trust.
Michael Foley is professor emeritus of journalism at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). Writing in the Irish Times he picks up on an interesting angle arising out of Mr Justice Peter Charleton’s opening remarks at the Disclosures Tribunal: At the opening of the Garda whistleblower tribunal, the tribunal chairman Mr Justice Peter Charleton, said he wanted to know if the media was being “used as an instrument for the dissemination of lies”. For most people his remarks are perfectly reasonable, …
