CLONMEL -- There is a hallway of over-sized photographs in the arrivals hall of Dublin Airport. The six-foot tall mugshots represent a cross-section of the Immigration Control Branch attached to the airport. Anthony Haughey shot the images but does not display them with the names of the respective gardai. It seems there's a privacy issue. You can bet if Haughey had shot Beckham in transit, the title of the image would include the subject's surname. Why should the police have a higher expectation of privacy than anyone else?
Why should police privacy be better-protected than that of battered spouses or deported passengers? Why should upstanding peace officers cloak behind layers of anonymity--kidnap targets like the Magniers or other very wealthy Irish personalities have their faces named and plastered on front pages. Why do we defer to the Garda Siochana?
After all, a career of police work consists of going face-to-face with hostile audiences. A Garda has to face down domestic violence, drunken louts and hardened prisoners. They should surely be able to be named and noted when displayed on the foot of money spent for the "percentage for arts" programme.
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