Garda members are not there to serve themselves or the organisation but to “serve the people”, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said. In his first speech to graduates at the Garda College in Templemore, he urged the 185 recruits to be “operationally honest”. Speaking to the graduates, Commissioner Harris said that nearly 100 years ago the first commissioner, Michael Staines, said that the organisation would not succeed by force of arms or numbers, but by their “moral authority as servants of the people”. Commissioner Harris told the graduates: “We are here to serve the people. “That means treating everyone we meet with respect, dignity and empathy.”Commissioner Harris said that this approach must apply internally as well.

Source: Irish Examiner September 08, 2018 05:03 UTC