It's difficult to know how to rate this one. On the one hand, it serves as a very useful reminder of the importance of Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. On the other hand, it normalizes the blatant disregard the Gardai have for personal rights and freedoms.
People are routinely searched without probable cause and stopped for no apparent reason. It's a tired reference that may sound inflammatory, but the term Gestapo tactics truly is appropriate here.
One officer laments that the younger generation isn't scared of them like older people used to be. A proper police force does not want the citizens they're charged with *protecting* to be scared of them!
All of the officers seem convinced that everyone they run across is intoxicated, and they're bound and determined to prove them to be so.
Ireland is a beautiful country that I've long wanted to visit, and perhaps even move to. But after just a few minutes watching these intensely over-enthusiastic officers doing their best to create a nanny-state, I no longer have any desire to set foot in Ireland.
This series deserves ten stars for its stark illustration of the importance of liberty, but the Gardai profiled are so cringe they make me want to rate it at less than one star. I'll compromise and give it three, simply for the important warning it provides about police overreach in Ireland.
As the title says, these people are scary! I feel for the citizens who have to live under the threat of their iron boots.
