A surprise for Dubliners when they see an English policemen patrolling the streets of their city.
PC Tony Sweeney, an inner city policeman who works in Lincoln Green in the city of Leeds, asked to come to Ireland to study police methods here. Lincoln Green is one of the toughest and deprived areas of Leeds.
I thinks it has been really, really fantastic everywhere I have been. People have thought at first that I was an actor going out and doing a play or doing a film.
It is the first time since the foundation of the State that an English policeman has worked on the streets anywhere in Ireland.
Bobby of the Year Tony Sweeney went on patrol with Gardaí and meeting some surprised Dubliners. While he having a very positive experience, not all Dubliners are happy with his presence with one man commenting,
I think it's a disgrace. It's like as if we never left the Commonwealth.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 20 June 2001. The reporter is Paul Reynolds.
