Professor Amanda Haynes:

I will also mention something in relation to victims of crime because this it is an important statement to make. One of the matters that was really discouraging people from contacting the Garda when they were victims of crime was the practice that many of our participants reported of gardaí who came to their home, particularly to halting sites or group housing, taking the opportunity to look for evidence of unlawful behaviour when they were called out by a victim of a crime. This means that victims of crime have the sense that they are, potentially, bringing the gardaí "down on the people around them". That is the phrase that is often referred to and it is a real obstacle for people to ask for help as victims of crime.