Watch Gaelic Coimhead Gàidhlig

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Uill cha deach sibh dhan chlas-rùm. Chaidh sibh air a’ phoileas.

[Murchadh Peutan] Chaidh.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Nise, ’s e leum ’s dòcha annasach a bha sin.

[Murchadh Peutan] Tha mi cinnteach gur e ’s chan eil mi buileach cinnteach carson ’s dè an t-adhbhar a thagh mi sin ach rinn mi e agus feumaidh mi a ràdh gun do chòrd e rium agus nuair a dh’fhàg mi am poileas feumaidh mi aideachadh cuideachd gun robh ionndrainn mòr agam gu h-àraid air na balaich a bh’ air, anns a’ phoileas còmhla rium.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Dè an dòigh-smaoineachaidh a bh’ ann? An e dìreach “feumaidh mi obair fhaighinn, seo rudeigin a dh’fhaodadh freagairt orm” no an robh iarrtas sònraichte a dhol air a’ phoileas?

[Murchadh Peutan] Tha mi a’ smaoineachadh dìreach mar a thuirt thu, “tha obair ann an seo agus saoilidh mi ’s dòcha gum bi e na obair fhreagarrach dhòmhsa”.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] ’S ann ann an Glaschu a thòisich sibh.

[Murchadh Peutan] Ann an Glaschu. Ann an sgìre Maryhill.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Cò ris a bha sin coltach?

[Murchadh Peutan] Bha e annasach. Bha glè thric Dihaoine ’s Disathairne bhiodh ùpraid a’ dol agus tha cuimhne a’m aig a’ Bhliadhn’ Ùir bhiodh sinn gu math trang, agus cuideachd anns na bliadhnaichean sin bha sinn gu math trang air Dihaoine Fèill Ghlaschu, nuair a bha a h-uile duine a’ faighinn nan saor-làithean aca.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Mar as trice nuair a bhruidhneas tu ri daoine a bh’ air a’ phoileas ann an Glaschu aig an àm sin canaidh iad riut gun robh, saoilidh tu ag èisteachd ri cuid aca gun robh Gàidhlig aig a h-uile poileasman ann an Glaschu.

[Murchadh Peutan] Bha grunnan math de Ghàidheil air a’ phoileas agus ’s iomadh turas a bha còmhradh agamsa anns a’ Ghàidhlig ri daoine a bh’ air a’ phoileas. Bhithinn a’ coinneachadh ri feadhainn bho sgìrean eile cuideachd mar a bha ’s dòcha geama ball-coise mòr a’ dol aig Hampden ’s bha iad a’ cruinneachadh a-staigh daoine bho gach ceàrnaidh dhen bhaile.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Agus lean sibh ris a’ phoileas ’s chaidh sibh an uair sin, tha mi a’ creid air sgàth saidheans anns an oilthigh, chaidh sibh an sàs ann am foireansaigs.

[Murchadh Peutan] Chaidh. Thachair gun robh, gun tàinig sanas a-mach gun robh iad a’ coimhead airson cuideigin a rachadh ann an roinn na forensic science shìos aig headquarters. Chuir mi a-steach air a shon ’s fhuair mi e ’s chaidh mi a-staigh ’s bha e gu math tarraingeach aig an àm. Bha mi a’ smaoineachadh gur e obair inntinneach a bhiodh ann, ach a bharrachd air an sin bha mi a’ faighinn air falbh bhon obair sioftaichean. Bha thu ag obair bho leth-uair an dèidh ochd anns a’ mhadainn gu leth-uair an dèidh còig as t-oidhche.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] An e poileasmain le eòlas saidheans a bu mhotha a bh’ anns an roinn sin?

[Murchadh Peutan] ’S e air fad, ach cha robh mise fada anns an roinn nuair a thòisich iad a’ gabhail a-staigh luchd-saidheans nach robh idir nam poileasmain agus an-diugh, mar a tha fhios againn, chan e roinn de dh’fheachd a’ phoileis a th’ anns na forensic science labs idir, idir.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] So an-diugh tha eòlaichean saidheans ga dhèanamh. An uair ud bha poileasmain le beagan eòlais ...

[Murchadh Peutan] Shin agad e. Sin agad dìreach mar a bha e.

[Dòmhnall Moireasdan] Ach chan e a-mhàin sin. Bha cuideachd saoghal saidheans anns an robh sibh an sàs, saidheans foireansaig, gu math eadar-dhealaichte an uair sin bho mar a tha e an-diugh, nach robh?

[Murchadh Peutan] Ò bha. Tha an-diugh tha, uill cha robh coimpiutairean againne an uair sin. Cha robh DNA, agus saoilidh mi gur e DNA an ceum as cudromaiche a thachair ann am forensic science a-riamh agus faodaidh mi a ràdh tha dòchas an-dràsta, nach eil mi a’ tuigsinn idir idir, idir carson a tha daoine an aghaidh DNA a h-uile duine a bhith air clàr.

Chaidh am prògram seo, Thuige Seo, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2011.

[Donald Morrison] Well you didn’t go to the classroom. You went into the police.

[Murdo Beaton] I did.

[Donald Morrison] Now, that was a perhaps unusual jump.

[Murdo Beaton] I am sure that it was and I am not entirely sure why and what the reason I chose it was but I did it and I must say that I enjoyed it and when I left the police I must also admit that I really missed, in particular, the guys who were in the police with me.

[Donald Morrison] What was the thought process? Was it “I must get work, here is something that may suit me” or was there a particular demand to go into policing?

[Murdo Beaton] I think just as you said, “There is work here and I think perhaps that it will be a suitable job for me”.

[Donald Morrison] You started in Glasgow.

[Murdo Beaton] In Glasgow. In the Maryhill area.

[Donald Morrison] What was that like?

[Murdo Beaton] It was peculiar. Very often on a Friday and Saturday there would be a commotion and I remember at the New Year we would be very busy, and also in those years we were very busy on the Friday of the Glasgow Fair, when everyone got their holidays.

[Donald Morrison] Usually when you speak to people who were in the police in Glasgow at that time they will say to that you, you t would think listening to some of them that every policeman in Glasgow spoke Gaelic.

[Murdo Beaton] There were a good few Gaels in the police and many’s a time that I had a conversation in Gaelic with people who were in the police. I would meet some from other areas too if perhaps there was a big football game happening at Hampden and they brought in people from all corners of the city.

[Donald Morrison] And you stayed in the police and you then went, I imagine because of science in university, and you became involved in forensics.

[Murdo Beaton] I did. It happened that, that an advert came out stating that they were looking for someone who would join the forensic science division down at headquarters. I applied for it and I got it and I joined and it was very attractive at the time. I thought that it would be an interesting job, but moreover I got away from the shift work. You worked from half past eight in the morning to half past five at night.

[Donald Morrison] Was it mainly policemen with knowledge of science who were in that division?

[Murdo Beaton] It was entirely, but I wasn’t long in the division before they started taking in scientists that weren’t policemen at all and now, as we know, the forensic science labs aren’t a division of the police force at all at all.

[Donald Morrison] So now scientific experts do it. At that time policemen with a little knowledge ...

[Murdo Beaton] That’s it. That is exactly how it was.

[Donald Morrison] But not only that. The world of science in which you were involved, forensic science, was very different at that time from how it is today, wasn’t it?

[Murdo Beaton] Oh it was. Today there is, well we didn’t have computers then. There wasn’t DNA, and I think that DNA is the most important step that has ever happened in forensic science and I can say there is hope just now, and I don’t understand at all, at all, at all why people are against having everyone’s DNA on record.

This programme, Thuige Seo, was first broadcast in 2011.