We know from these tough guys that the agencies of state designed to protect and defend us can't be trusted. Judges, for example, are notoriously chummy with drug dealers and routinely attempt to apply light sentences while the rest of us are looking the other way.

Now it turns out that the cops are in on the act as well.

Earlier this week, Ferris told Radio Kerry's listeners that the gardaí have gone the way of judges. They, we are assured, also have an affinity with the merchants of misery. These cops have turned into fellow travellers of drug dealers. It's just as well that Marty is around to blow their cover.

This is what Ferris told the listeners, and we presume that his face was as straight as a dye as he dispensed his searing insight.

"I am seriously concerned that known drug pushers and criminals in this county are being let off the hook because the gardaí are speaking up on their behalf, " he said. Ferris went on to say that many people in Kerry wanted to know why gardaí were "asking judges to be lenient" when sentencing pushers.

There you have it.

Without Ferris we would have continued under the misapprehension that the cops were out to catch the bad guys. In fact, they are in cahoots with the judiciary to ensure that the bad guys get off lightly and come back to haunt us as soon as possible.

Let's hear it for Martin Ferris, our great protector. He wants to ensure that criminals serve out a sentence commensurate with their crime, unless, of course, the crime is killing a cop by the name of Jerry McCabe. Are you listening, drug dealers?

You may have fought the law and won, but you ain't seen nothin' like Martin Ferris.

When it comes to toughguy politicians, clamping down hard on crime, Ferris is out on his own. Others stamp their feet, put on their best Bobby DeNiro eyes and pledge to make the criminals pay for their crime. Ferris has more muscle than that.

He has a record of invoking the law as he sees it, rather than anything the democratic will of the people might have deigned.

Twenty years ago, he was arrested bringing a consignment of guns into the state, which could have been used to kill people opposed to Ferris's aims. As time would tell, those to be killed included members of the gardaí if they got in the way. Killing people you think deserve it is about as tough as you can be.

More recently, he was suspected of acting tough outside the law. Five years ago, coincidentally in the run up to the last election, a spate of vigilante activity was detected in north Kerry. The targets were suspected drug dealers. Summary justice was dispensed. Bones were broken.

The cops arrested Ferris.

After questioning, he was released without charge.

That was the lawful and proper thing to do, but as any tough-guy politician will tell you, perception, not reality, is what really matters.

And the perception was that Ferris was being harassed by the cops. In the great tradition of this country, he was anointed a victim and romped home in the election.

Now, there is another election around the corner. This time, there is no vigilantism, certainly not yet.

Into this vacuum dives Ferris with his observations that the gardaí are soft on criminals. Who needs vigilantes when you have a legit toughguy politician to step into the breach and throw shapes?

In a competitive political marketplace, you need to have an edge, something that will distinguish you from the pack.

In Ferris's case, it's the offer that he will ensure the law is upheld and criminals pay for their crime, despite the best efforts of the gardaí to undermine the law. You couldn't make it up.