Political row amid pressure for policing reform

Posted by Jim on February 23, 2019

A row has erupted over the future leadership of the PSNI (formerly RUC)
following revelations last week that collusion-related documents in
PSNI archives continue to be withheld from investigators.

Two decades after the reforms of the Patten Commission were meant to
transform the murderous RUC into a cross-community policing service,
the problem of ongoing collusion in the force dovetailed with new
statistics which show that just 10% of senior members of the PSNI are
Catholic.

Amid calls for the PSNI to be disbanded, a suggestion by Sinn Féin
leader Mary Lou McDonald that its next chief should be an external
candidate was greeted with outrage and calls for apologies by
unionists.

Ulster Unionist Alan Chambers called on Sinn Féin representatives on
the Policing Board to “publicly disassociate themselves from their
party leader’s comments”.

The DUP’s Mervyn Storey said he was seeking legal advice over its
inclusion of Sinn Féin members in the panel to select the next PSNI
chief.

“How can any Sinn Féin member sit on that panel and candidates from the
PSNI expect to get a fair hearing,” he demanded to know.

Ms McDonald’s comments came after she met bereaved families caught up
in the controversy involving the PSNI’s secret and undisclosed archive
of collusion documents.

“I cannot describe to you the level of distress of these families
because they were expecting a report from the Ombudsman and he
discovered by accident that critical information was withheld from
him,” she said.

“People are looking on aghast with the latest episode of this.

“Any comments that I have made are reflective of exasperation and real
upset from real people who live up the road. Any comments I will ever
make will be in the interests of delivering credible policing services
that people can support.”

It is understood some of the secret files are linked to a shipment of
loyalist weapons smuggled into the north in the late 1980s. Collusion
is suspected in many of the hundreds of murders involved.

The news that these files were withheld has caused nationalist
confidence in the PSNI to sink to “rock bottom”, Sinn Féin has warned.

Ms McDonald cited a meeting with the Police Ombudsman where she heard
details of information, specifically in relation to the Ormeau Road
massacre. The gun assault carried out by the UDA in 1992 left five
people dead.

Of the call for an outsider to take over the force, Ms McDonald said
“there’s nothing to apologise for”, dismissing criticism of her remarks
as “political huffing and puffing”.

The predecessor to the current PSNI chief George Hamilton, who is due
to retire in June, was Matt Baggott, an external appointment from an
English police force — as was Hugh Orde, the first permanent PSNI
chief.

“I was asked could I identify someone from the senior team who I
thought ought to be chief (constable) and the truth is I can’t,” Ms
McDonald said.

But DUP leader Arlene Foster said she believed Ms McDonald’s comments
had jeopardised the recruitment process.

“The leader of one of the political parties involved in the panel has
made her feelings quite clear and that of course interferes with due
process and the panel has now been compromised,” she declared.

There was also a bizarre intervention by Fianna Fáil’s Housing
Spokesperson Darragh O’Brien, apparently motivated by that party’s
recent alliance with Sinn Féin’s main political rivals in the North,
the SDLP.

He branded Ms McDonald’s as “wholly irresponsible” and “very dangerous”
and accused her of “undermining” the PSNI — despite a similar decision
having been taken and supported by Fianna Fáil in regard to the reform
of the Gardai in the 26 Counties.

The current chief of the Gardai, former RUC figure Drew Harris, was
also an external appointment. Ironically, he also now stands accused of
hiding collusion files from investigations which predate his
appointment as Garda Commissioner one year ago.