Report written by Ben Harkin on behalf of Rang Máire
On Wednesday the 2nd of December, our local Juvenile Liaison Officer, Patrick McGlynn, came into the school to talk to 3rd years Rang Maíre for our CSPE Action Project. He explained to us everything about his job, from the different areas in Donegal to what he does when he meets a young person. He explained to us the implications of getting a conviction and even how serious getting a caution could be. He explained to us different cases where people haven’t been able to get into the course they wanted because the got a conviction years ago.
Even though his job is tough he told us that he enjoys it because he loves working with young people. This comes from when he worked as a guard for 8 years. He says he would see young people sitting on a wall and he would go up and join them and have a chat. He says that young people can be very interesting and have great stories to tell.
Patrick was a very motivational speaker and explained to us that there is nothing that we can’t be. He told us how he once worked on a digger – every boy’s dream. Although it sounds great “it got old after 4 years”. After seeing an advertisement for an Gardaí in the paper, he applied for it. Despite overwhelming odds he got the job, the superintendent was impressed at his punctuality. After 6 years of being a guard he applied for the post of J.L.O and has never looked back.
He told us that when he was dealing with cases where death was involved as a guard him and his colleagues would try to make a joke. It was normally about something stupid, for example how big Patrick’s feet were, just to lighten everyone up. He told us that if we bottle things up, then eventually we will break, that you need to share problems and laugh a bit.
Overall, Patrick was a very informative, funny speaker that gave us an insight into the life of a guard and J.L.O.