Polish student garda reflects on enjoyable five-month stint in Athlone

Being one of a small minority of Polish people to join the gardai, Marta Radziul from Gdansk, faced more obstacles than your average trainee garda, in not only dealing with the Polish-English language barrier, but also coming to grips with the Irish language and legal system. Nonetheless, Marta, who joined the force in November of last year said this week she was delighted she made this career move and has just spent an enjoyable five-month training period in Athlone, where she felt very welcome. Speaking to the Westmeath Independent this week, Marta explained that she decided to join the gardai last year after spending a couple of years in Ireland as she thought it would be a good career and she had previously toyed with the idea of joining the police force in Poland when she left school. After completing the first phase of her training in Templemore, Co Tipperary, Marta began phase two of her training at Athlone Garda Station in April and is this week completing her five-month practical training in the town. Marta first came to Ireland in the summer of 2005 when she was on a break from college and returned the following summer. After graduating from college in tourism management she made the move permanently to Ireland in April 2007 and took up residence in Galway city. She explained that she had found it difficult to get work in her chosen field and then a friend suggested she should join the gardai as it would be a good career and she agreed. Marta said she had planned to join the police academy in Poland when she graduated from high school, but the police force wasn't recruiting that year as it had reached saturation point. Marta joined the Garda College in November last year and there were two Polish men in her class. She explained that six other Polish people had joined the gardai before her and there is another Polish girl in the class that began just after her. Speaking about the additional learning involved for her, Marta said: "You have to boost your English. I had studied English for ten years with Cambridge University through distance learning, but when I started studying law at the Garda College I found I had to go back to learning English to understand the law." She added that she also had to study Irish, which she found quite difficult. "It was very hard. There is one level so I had to put a lot more work in. I had to stay in sometimes and study when others were able to go out," she said. While she was based in Athlone, Marta had the opportunity to work with many of the units based at the station, including the divisional drugs unit, the detective branch, the community policing unit, the immigration unit, the traffic corps and being based in the district office. While she enjoyed all of the units she worked with, the highlight for Marta was the traffic corps. She said it involved working nights only and was hectic, but it was the most enjoyable. Being a native Polish speaker, Marta was also able to use this to the benefit of the Polish community here in Athlone and also to the benefit of the station. "There are a lot of Polish citizens living locally who come in for information and I can come and talk to them," she explained. From time to time during her stint in Athlone, Marta assisted the gardai, particularly the community policing unit, in liaising with the Polish community in the town. Reflecting on her time in Athlone, Marta said: "I felt very welcome in Athlone. They were very nice in the station and they minded me very well and helped me out whenever I had a language difficulty or a legal one. It was a great experience to be here." And her advice to any other Polish or non-Irish people who are considering a career in the gardai is simply: "Go for it. If you put a bit of work into it you will definitely make it."