Unfinished business and a duty to help others: Limerick city garda sergeant retires

WHEN you imagine retirement, what do you foresee? 

For some, an easy-going scene immediately pops into their mind, of hanging up their hat and coat, putting on their slippers and relaxing by a cosy fire with a beverage of choice, before snoozing into the early evening. 

While it may differ from person to person, the general consensus of what retirement represents is that of a leisurely time with money in your pocket, after working hard for the entirety of your adult life.

However, that is not exactly what retiring garda sergeant Ber Leetch of Henry Street garda station has in mind, as she has no intention of hanging up her hat just yet! 

“Up until a few weeks ago, members of An Garda Síochána had to retire on their 60th birthday,” Ber explains. 

“It has since come in that we can stay until 62, but I’m happy to go, I have my mind made up a good while.

“I’m going to begin working a couple of hours for two days a week in a pharmacy and will see if I want to develop that further and do a course in the new year. I’m not sure yet, but I certainly would like to volunteer as well, perhaps in a domestic violence refuge centre.”

Ber retired on midnight the day before her 60th birthday, October 28, having served as a garda for more than 35 years. 

Having most recently spent more than seven years as a crime prevention officer at Henry Street garda station, Ber said she is now happy to pass the buck to a colleague and “let them put new life into it”. 

“Limerick was very, very good to me,” she enthuses. 

“I came down from Dublin as a young uniformed guard and, within two years, I was appointed as a detective and was part of the drug squad for nearly seven years.

“The drug squad was very busy and it was during the years of the feuding families in Limerick, so we were on duty all the time.”

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In 2002, Ber was promoted to sergeant and went back to Mayorstone, staying in the role for 15 years. 

Speaking of the realities of the job on the frontline, she says “We saw a lot, there’s no doubt about it”.

“The uniform wouldn’t necessarily protect you if people were fighting or driven by rage or drink and drugs, whatever the case may be. I got a good couple of clatters over the years in service.”

Describing herself as a “late joiner”,  Ber says she was 24-and-a-half years old when she joined the guards in 1989. 

Originally from Mallow, Co Cork, she says she wanted to be a garda from a young age. 

“I actually always wanted to be a guard,” she notes.  “I liked the idea of helping people and even though I had to wait a long time for it, having worked in a nursing home in Mallow for six-and-a-half years before I got the guards,  I was delighted to join.”

Among the first group of gardaí in Templemore Garda College to be trained on the new and improved two-year training programme in 1989, which changed from six months, Ber did six months in the classroom in County Tipperary and a further six months in Rathmines on the beat. “I was sworn in as a guard and sent packing to my permanent station which was Pearse Street in Dublin and was there for nearly four years after graduating. 

“In 1993, I transferred to Limerick and am here since.”

Reflecting on what Ber describes as  “dramatic changes” in the force through the years,  there are a few “firsts” that spring to mind for her.

“I was the first female guard in Rathmines!  Another change was when we got the trousers because ban gardaí were in skirts for years and years.

“I was also the first female crime prevention officer in Ireland, when I was assigned the role in Limerick.”

Pointing out how “everything is changed” in the force, Ber says that she “couldn’t say” what the new training system is for young guards - despite having previously been a training sergeant for 15 years - such is the pace of change.  

“There are huge changes in the way students are taught now, in comparison to how I was taught. A lot of crimes have also gone online now, with scams being the major one.”

While Ber says that it is “in [her] nature to be useful and to have a purpose”, she plans too to holiday and visit family members who live “all over the world”, during her retirement.