Shannon Incident Report - Political Police ban FreeSpeech

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday April 17, 2003 15:34 by BlackPope - Peace through Resistance BlackPope at operamail dot com

NATO-compatibility of Guardai ascending rapidly - The RUC sends congratulations!

Please write to Guarda Commissioner Pat Byrne at Dublin Castle or [email protected] to demand that (A) his men keep up the sterling good work until such times as they can seamlessly take over from the RUC, or (B) such (politically motivated?) harassment cease forthwith. The audio is 2MB of non-streamed MP3, duration 5min

Dateline: Saturday 12.04.03 @ 11:20pm
Location: Back Road, at Shannon Airport perimeter fence, district of Riannana, Co. Clare, Ireland

Cast:

PS1 = Plane Spotter #1
PS2 = Plane Spotter #2
PS3 = Plane Spotter #3
LO = Legal Observer
CP = Camera Person

RPG = Uniformed Guarda Police Officer --- Shoulder-number:- RG14
WMA = Plainclothes Detective William McAndrew --- Badge-number:- 195002
CSD-BoK = 'Cheap SuperDisinfectant Borrisk-O'Kane' --- Bus-pass-number:- illegible at 3m in font 2

APES = Airport Police and Emergency Services

Plot:

Two persons equipped with a tripod-mounted telescope and video camera were engaged in their regular activity of monitoring for illegal transshipments of Weaponry and Foreign Armed Forces known to pass through Shannon on a daily basis in support of Wholesale Terrorism, Murder and Robbery. They had been there for about five minutes filming some footage of 'USAF Fort Ahern' when an unmarked car containing two strange men drew up beside them on the road.

{* Forewarning: All quotes are exact; intelligibility varies * }

Roll Cameras and ... Aaack-SHUN!! - SCENE ONE -

The driver-side window went down and a voice from the shadowy interior greeted them with, "Are you here tonight for exscapades?" The activists did not respond to this unmannerly challenge and PS1 turned back and continued on with his work. At this point the speaker, who we will come to know as 'CSD-BoK', switched to an accusatory tone, saying "You don't have to be rude - it was just a question." PS1 and CP, understandably not wishing to be distracted and much less to become embroiled with unknown and obviously confrontational characters at a lonely place in the dead of night, again made no reply. At this the occupants of the car seemed to become agitated - the driver executed a rapid three point turn which left the car parked in the middle of the road, headlights trained on the people manning the telescope emplacement.

As they exited the car and strode towards the activists, CSD-BoK flashed from a distance of about three metres what appeared to be a bus-pass and claimed to be 'Cheap SuperDisinfectant Borrisk-O'Kane'. The mention of this household-name cum narcotic-suicide-potion meant nothing to anyone except perhaps himself and his accomplice; however, there was no time to enquire further, as he had already stowed the pass by the time he halted, proceeding to abruptly demand, without stating any reason why, that the two monitors identify themselves by name and address. The other man began, without further ado, to note down particulars. He was then requested to show identification and authority to do so, to which he responded with the casual suggestion that they might address him as 'Detective William McAndrew', although he made no effort to document this name or title nor even indicate who his employer might be. Initially, it was suspected that this might be the Scottish Crown. The combined comportment and tone of both 'officers' up to this point in time had been sinister, intimidating and hostile, with Borrisk-O'Kane playing the lead as an emotional prima-donna, so to speak.

When the required details had been duly given, CP asked CSD-BoK to show his Bus-Badge again while holding it stationary and in some light, as she wanted to note the details. He equivocated by asking snarkily if she had a notebook and pen. CP replied that she did not have a pen and paper, but that WMA might be so kind as to lend her some, now that he was finished writing. Before WMA could comply, CSD-BoK seemed to cast around rapidly for some pretext to avoid being thusly identified and in order to prolong the unpleasant encounter on terms more to his own liking. He then flared up suddenly, nostrils all a-flutter with (fake?) indignant outrage, at CP with the cry, "Have you been filming me!?!" She replied negatively, repeating that she just wanted a pen and paper to take down his number. He very angrily said, "It is illegal to film a Police Officer on duty!" CP stated that she had not grown up in this country and was unaware of that law. CSD-BoK then aggressively lunged at her and attempted to wrest the camera from her hands while shouting, "I'm taking this camera under the Offences against the State Act." PS1 intervened verbally to say that he had no right to take it at all, and was warned by the intrepid Borrisk-O'Kane to keep out of his wrestling match with the lady.

CP was very reluctant to release the apparatus to his tender mercies, as it was not her personal property, but offered, by way of compromise after a fitful, undecided bout of tug-o-war to rewind the tape and reassure him via the playback mode that he had not been filmed. CSD-BoK then wanted to take the whole tape, as he was distrustful of where he could find the relevant patch of tape. CP protested that all her other imprescindible footage of the day was on the tape. They then moved out of the beam of light to the side of the unmarked car, where Borrisk-O'Kane spent some time incompetently fumbling around the video camera in an effort to extract or rewind the tape. Having successfully failed on both counts, he gave the camera back amid embarrassed mutters of whinge-extract and CP rewound it, playing it forward then to show that he was not on the tape. He watched whimsically in silence for a while and then appeared to lose interest, as some Army and APES-vehicles arrived on the scene inside the fence. His spleen having now deflated to the stage where he could breath without sounding like a Jabberwocky, Borrisk-O'Kane wandered aimlessly away, head bowed and mumbling, ".. maybe I should have just confitstickated the tape and given out a cerdivitick?" WMA, who had remained with PS1, saw CSD-BoK's head pointing towards the car, so he also bid farewell and hopped it. Their reputed bus-badges remained tucked in the relevant flap-covered cranny as they crammed themselves back inside the car and cleared off; both were fondly unmissed by all who had just made their acquaintance.

A Comedy of Errors ... Aaack-SHUN!! - SCENE TWO -

Very shortly after this a further five Bomber Monitors arrived by car and disembarked with a megaphone. After 5 to 10 minutes of casual chit-chat with the *APES* by way of introduction, they were approached by RPG, WMA and CSD-BoK. RPG led the persecution by "cautioning" the man on the mike, PS2. This individual produced an audio recording device, hit the red button and asked RPG to back-up his tape. The first 3 seconds of this interchange went onto the bare carrier at the start of the tape but is described to set the scene. RPG reacted as you can imagine a Vampire would to having a garlic-flavoured stink-bomb detonate unexpectedly just under his nose - he started, the head recoiled in horror as he elaborately threw up his arms to defend from unspeakable evil, and he whined..

- Transcript of Audio Recording, START -

RPG: You needn't put that in my face at all!
PS2: It's not in your face. What was that again, Officer?
RPG: I'm more .. I'm cautioning you under Section 8 of the Public Act to move on out of here.
PS2: You're cautioning me? On what grounds are you cautioning me, sir?
RPG: Under the Public Order Act.
PS2: Yes, but why are you cautioning me?
RPG: You're like .. to commit a breach of the peace - you are directing insults at them men on patrol in there.
PS2: Insults?
RPG: Yes.
PS2: Which insult did I direct at them?
RPG: You used the word 'bombers', several times.
PS2: I asked them when the bombers are landing!
RPG: Yes.
PS2: Is that an insult?
RPG: It is, yes.
PS2: An insult to whom?

{ At this point WMA begins to interrupt with request for details of PS2. }

RPG: Them men in there [vague gesture towards spectating *APES*]
LO: They're not pilots, so how can it be an insult to them?
PS2: How is it an insult to them?

{ WMA insists feebly for address. }

PS2: So, will you tell me, officer, what insult I am supposed to have directed at these men and why you are cautioning me?
RPG: I'm cautioning you that your behaviour could possibly lead to a breach of the peace, alright?
PS2: You reckon it could? Well, I don't think so.

{ WMA jumps in again with distracting queries. He claims to be a police officer but refuses to identify himself or show lawful authority before writing down the replies, only finally doing so after the request is repeated - documented on audio. RPG meanwhile enjoys a 50-second respite, used to scavenge through the dimmer recesses of his headspace for some variation on that stock-phrase the drill-sargent had hammered into him way back in boot-camp. }

PS2: I'd just like to reiterate for the record that I did not insult anyone, sir, you are mistaken when you say that.
RPG: I'm saying to you that there's no problems with you making a peaceful demonstration but you cannot use that mike making gestures to those people on patrol inside there, you are totally in breach of the Public Order Act, alright?
LO: { busts out laughing }
PS2: No, I disagree!
RPG: I've notified you a second time and you're liable to be arrested now.
PS3: { asks about applicability of Public Order Act to *APES*, who habitually train a spotlight into the telescope from the other side of the fence, likelihood of ever being cautioned, etc. }
RPG: You cannot make comments about bombers or any suggestions of that nature, alright?.
PS3: I was just chatting there about ..
RPG: I said, "Yee", not "Youse" - this guy here (PS2). Right lads, make a peace .. peaceful demonstration, there's no problem.
PS2: Well, is there anybody here being aggressive?
PS3: I'm not!
PS2: I don't see anyone being aggressive!
RPG: Well, it could lead to aggression.
PS2: That is certainly untrue, sir!
RPG: Yee have used the word 'bombers'!
PS2: There are bombers in the world, sir, you do know that?
LO: It is a fact that there have been bombers passing through this airport recently!
PS2: The planes are coming through here full of bombs, that makes them bombers!
RPG: Don't make your gestures towards those people inside .. [points to *APES*].
PS2: Look, I didn't suggest THEY were bombers, sir.
RPG: .. the people in the van.
PS2: Aye.
RPG: You mentioned the word 'bombers'! Don't use that word again. I'm telling you not to use that word again.
PS2: Oh, I'm not allowed to use the word 'bombers' now?
RPG: You'll be explaining that in front of a judge tomorrow, alright?.
PS2: For saying the word 'bombers'?
WMA: No, for engaging in banter!
RPG: I arrest you on charging the Public Order Act!
PS2: For saying the word 'bombers'?
WMA: You're engaging in banter!
PS2: I think the judge will be interested to hear that argument from you, sir - he would actually!
WMA: You were engaged in banter with people inside here doing their duty.
PS2: Huh??
WMA: You are engaging in banter through the microphone system.
PS2: What was your name again, sir?
WMA: McAndrew.
PS2: McAndrew! Mr. McAndrew, you are a police officer ..
WMA: - that's right -
PS2: .. I respect your opinion, but I disagree with it.
WMA: Right.
RPG: It's as simple as this, so, if you don't desist from what you're doing .. if you don't desist from what you're doing, you .. you'll be .. arrested?!
PS2: On what grounds, sir?
WMA: On the grounds of engaging in conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace.
RPG: [faintly] For questioning my authority.
PS2: How is it likely to do so?
WMA: Because you're engaging in banter with .. with .. with .. with officers on the ..
PS2: So, engaging in banter causes a breach of the peace, automatically?
WMA: Yeah.
PS2: I don't believe so!
PS2: Right.
RPG: If you use that mike again, I'm warning you for the last time, you'll be arrested.
PS2: For saying the word 'bombers'? That's an arrestable offence? I think the judge will be amused to hear that 'argument'.
RPG: Maybe he will, maybe he will, but if you persist and are gonna continue, now it's not ..
PS2: - This is what you call harassment, sir! -
RPG: .. and if you don't desist from what you're do ..
PS2: - This is harassment! -
RPG: No, it's not.
PS2: It certainly is! Am I banned from saying the word 'bombers'?
PS2: If you don't desist from what you're doing, engaging in banter with these people in here doing their duty ..
RPG: It'll be up to the court to decide now, OK? You'll be arrested then and charged Public Order Act ..
PS2: I think the judge will be interested to hear that one too.
LO: Are you aware of our legal rights to freedom of speech?
RPG: You can explain that to the prison officer tomorrow. You'll be arrested now, alright?
PS2: Are you threatening us with arrest now, on the grounds that we said a word that you're trying to make taboo?
RPG: You've been told now.
PS2: I have heard you, yes!

Officers are by now beating retreat to car, insert selves and start engine, remaining at the scene a further 10 minutes before buzzing off.

COMMENTS

Borrisk-O'Kane, whose badge was never seen but substituted by an aggressive display of bad temper, seems to be in urgent need of therapy, the nature of which we hobby-psychiatrists can only too gladly speculate at - it is known, since Dr. Hyde's famous experiments of 1873, that a sedative of monkey-hormones combined with repeated jolts of Electroshock delivered across the frontal lobes has proven somewhat helpful in calming such cases. Or maybe he should just lay off the wrong hormones altogether and max the valium - whichever!
In either case, Superintendent Kearns should properly identify this character and urgently de-commission him for the sake of public safety, before he injures someone or their camera. He is definitely unfit in his present condition to represent the State and must be given a chance to heal in tranquil surroundings. Many fine clinics in the Swiss Alps recommend themselves!

RG14 was clearly confused, mumbling and slurring his words throughout. It was too dark to see if his pupils were abnormally dilated as he departed on his apparently amphetamine-fueled rant, but he gave the strong impression, and the circumstantial evidence here suggests that he was under the influence of narcotics, strong medication or alcohol at the time of the incident. Indeed, with the benefit of hindsight, it even begins to appear probable that he may have been snowballing all of the above simultaneously!
We respectfully submit that the Superintendent consider testing this man for traces of 'substance' abuse and/or alcohol dependency. The question must arise as to whether this man is a fit character to be allowed to represent An Garda Síochána and thus the Republic of Ireland. Pending a final decision, a modest investment in english syntax lessons would perhaps not go amiss, hopefully aiding a bemused public to decipher what this man is on about.

WMA was sober by contrast, if somewhat banter-fixated, but his "argument" seemed to be based completely on an illogical mantra, as opposed to any quotable law. We request the Superintendent to consider sending this man back to police training college for a refresher course in the execution of his duty. He failed to show any lawful authority in scene one and in scene two only did so much later than being (repeatedly) requested. He is to be reprimanded, reminded of the requirements of the laws of the Republic of Ireland, and sent back to his job of catching criminals as opposed to harassing honest people enjoying a night out.