'Best guards do the best work in the grey area’ - retiring Limerick sergeant
Third generation garda, dating back to the foundation of the State, retires after 34 years
THERE is a craft to being ‘a police’, says a retiring sergeant who has An Garda Siochana in his DNA.
It is over 100 years of service and counting as Mike’s sister Valerie is a sergeant in Store Street in Dublin.
Despite the family history, Mike said there was no pressure on him to go to Templemore.
“From a young age that’s what I wanted to do. My granduncle John was one of the first guards to join in 1923. He was at my graduation - I didn’t appreciate it at the time - but I knew that it was a special moment for them.
Mike entered Templemore in 1990. His first posting was a place called Dromad.
“I’d never heard of it. There was a map but I couldn’t find it and there was no Google in those days. So I had to ask the fellow calling out the names, where is it? I was hoping that it was somewhere down in the south east or the south west coast of Ireland but it couldn't have been further away! It was right on the border, outside Dundalk, beautiful countryside.”
The Limerick city man set off for Co Louth where he cut his teeth in the guards. After he served his time he applied to be transferred closer to home and was assigned to Anglesea Street in Cork city.
“I was down there for seven years. I loved it. It's a great city with great people. I was given opportunities down there which helped me develop my craft, if you want to call it that.
“I was in the drugs squad for two years in plain clothes,” said Mike, who met his wife Noelle during this time. They have two grown up children - Conor and Ciara.
Next stop was Henry Street where he went straight into the drug squad in 1999. Mike said at the time the notorious gang feud was moving from “a spark to a flame”.
“We were really straight in at the deep end once that kicked off. The amount of investigations, serious crime, murders and attempted murders that followed - they were probably the biggest challenges that the city ever had to deal with.
“I worked with some fantastic people. Their names won't really be known, and rightly so. They just went about their business in a fabulous, professional way, and did so much to keep a lid on things in the city. I can clearly remember the determination and co-operation of the people of Limerick. I’ve never experienced anything as challenging as that time. Thankfully, we've moved to a much better place now.”
The son of Sean and Maeve was promoted to sergeant in Kilrush in 2005. But it was Kilmallock and not Kilkee that was his next port of call. The first man he met in the station was Garda John Curtin, of Ballylanders, and they remain friends to this day.
Mike said rural policing taught him that not everything is black and white.
“The best guards do the best work in the grey area. Not everybody wants law or recourse to the law. They want somebody they can go to that can mitigate and mediate in a way that you can maintain the status quo. Now the status quo mightn't be brilliant, but it might be better than if you go one way or the other. And very often, I've seen really good people do really good work in managing that.
“I think that's an important element of our craft that we are losing - our discretion and our way to manage things. The amount of simmering stuff that was going on over there and we brought it into the floor of the station and we said: ‘This is no court, have it out here between yourselves, and once you walk out there, that's it, it's over and done with’.”
In 2008, Mike moved the short distance to Bruff and it was where he would stay the longest - 16 years.
“There is a craft to being ‘a police’ and that craft isn't spending most of your time in front of a computer. Most of your time should be spent walking the street and talking to somebody because at the end of the day that's all people want - to know and see a policeman or policewoman that they can relate to.
“Not because they want them but it's a tangible sense of security - ‘there’s a policeman around’.”
Mike has now walked the beat for the last time after 34 years.
“It's been a good job to me. I've met fabulous people. I've met people who saw something in me and gave me opportunities that I don't know how I would have got otherwise. I've been mentored very, very well by excellent people. And I've had the absolute privilege of meeting the public the length and breadth of the country.”