'Garda' caught in YouTube sneer
An image taken from the YouTube footage
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Thursday June 07 2007
VIDEO footage showing what appears to be a uniformed garda making fun of a member of the public has sparked top-level investigations after it was posted on the internet.
The posting of the video on a website comes just a week after mock footage of troops firing at civilians in Liberia was also posted onto the same YouTube site.
Both the gardai and the new Garda Ombudsman commission have launched separate investigations.
The 4½-minute video shows what appears to be a clearly visible young uniformed garda taking a phone call from a member of the public and repeatedly laughing and mocking the man who requests to speak to a sergeant.
At one stage the caller, who has been put on speaker phone, asks the 'garda' to "have a bit of manners" and to stop laughing at him.
In the course of the video the 'garda' utters the man's name repeatedly and can also be seen looking at the camera and gesturing with his face as he holds the phone in front of his mouth.
Gardai said they had been aware of the existence of the filmed footage since Saturday. Supt Gerry Giblin, from Cavan station, has been appointed to investigate the matter. He will also establish whether the station involved is Kingscourt, Co Cavan, as was indicated on the video clip.
First reports indicate the footage was most likely filmed using a mobile phone and posted onto the internet after being circulated to other mobile phones in the locality.
The Garda Ombudsman Commission is also investigating the matter following a number of complaints from members of the public in recent days.
Kieran Fitzgerald, head of communications and research with the Garda Ombudsman Commission, told the programme that, on first viewing, the contents were such that an investigation by them was warranted.
- Eugene Moloney
