Less than two minutes after getting out of a French Police Nationale van, a group of tourists is asking for a photo with one of the gardaí present.
Three members of An Garda Síochána have been posted to a police station covering the fifth and sixth arrondissements of Paris, a city-centre area touching the banks of the river Seine which has a high tourist footfall. The trio are among a group of more than 40 gardaí that has travelled to assist French police during the Paris Olympics.
Terror concerns and other possible threats have necessitated a huge security operation during the games, with armed police seemingly posted to every other street corner in central Paris.
“We’ll assist in any way we can, whatever the French require, we’ll give it to them. Crime is crime,” says Sgt Andrew O’Riordan.
The three gardaí, who have been paired with three of their French counterparts, have been out since 10am. It’s the afternoon now and they are starting a fresh patrol from the Pantheon, where they are joined by a group of heavily armed French soldiers for a period.
Earlier in the day the gardaí attended an attempted burglary in an upmarket apartment nearby. Given many Parisians have left the city to avoid the Olympics upheaval, their empty homes have become prime targets. One of the Irish trio, Garda Fergus Collins, jokes that he has only just recovered from climbing the 20 or so flights of stairs up to the apartment.
“We do a lot of patrolling in touristy areas, but also areas where there would be a lot of footfall of pickpockets,” says Sgt O’Riordan. “You’d have a lot of young guys on fast scooters, flying around and they’ll whip a handbag.”
As the French soldiers split off in another direction, a shout goes out from a restaurant across the street. It’s coming from a group of tourists from Co Meath who have spotted the yellow Garda uniforms.
“Nobody is going to believe that we met the gardaí,” shouts one of the women in the group.
There is a genuinely warm reception from the locals for the visiting gardaí, who are among police from many countries who have sent bodies to assist during the games.
“You’ll find French people coming up and saying ‘Thank you very much for coming’,” Sgt O’Riordan says.
Stationed in Mayorstone, Co Limerick, Sgt O’Riordan is fluent in French, having studied it in university. Last year he was the first garda and native English speaker to attend and complete training in Cannes-Écluse, the French officer academy. This means he not only knows the language, but also the French police jargon.
“There’s a no-nonsense part to policing in France, we take a different approach, luckily, and I far prefer our system,” he says.
Sgt O’Riordan was part of a smaller number of gardaí who travelled to France to help out during last year’s Rugby World Cup, which worked as a policing dry run for the Olympics.
“Not only were we dealing with Irish tourists, we’re English-speaking so we were dealing with a lot of Americans, a lot of English, Australians,” he says.
Tourists are particularly targeted on the metro, often by groups of children as young as 12. “What will happen is they will surround the person, distract them by pushing them, bamboozle them,” Sgt O’Riordan says. By the time the person has collected themselves their phone, wallet or handbag could be gone.
As the gardaí walk down the street, a two-year-old girl in a tutu called Raya takes a shine to Garda Marion Power, who gives her a high five. Her father, Mahmoud Bakrawie, explains that the family are from Palestine and he is eager to chat when he discovers the gardaí are Irish.
“Thank you for what you have done for Palestine,” he says.
Talking later, Garda Power, who is stationed in Dún Laoghaire, says the posting to Paris has been an “amazing” experience.
“I did Leaving Cert French but it was many years ago, so it wouldn’t be wonderful ... For the last couple of months I have been brushing up on it,” she says.
During the hour The Irish Times spent with the police on patrol, a diplomatic incident nearly breaks out on one occasion. “What’s your problem with quarter-finals?” a passing French rugby fan asks the gardaí in reference to Ireland’s Rugby World Cup hoodoo, which draws a good laugh.
The French police get a call about a homeless man causing a disturbance outside a cafe and head down. The man initially shouts that he will only speak in German, as the three Police Nationale officers begin to tense up, before the gardaí step in and calm the situation.
After some dialogue in English, the man agrees to move on. The gardaí help him put on his jacket and remind him not to forget a bag with his belongings in it.
A community garda in Tullamore, Garda Collins says the Irish way is aimed at de-escalating potential issues.
“Once they know that you’re not going to be aggressive towards them they’ve a different perspective and they’ll work with you, he was happy to go,” he says.
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