Yesterday the Northern Ireland Policing Board launched their seventh annual human rights report in Derry/Londonderry. The occasion was styled as a “let’s talk” event with a panel of representatives from the Policing Board and Matt Baggott, the chief constable for the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland). During the debate, Baggott defended the intelligence services when a Republican on the panel and a few members of the floor called them the “dark side” of policing. Baggott repudiated with the statement that “If it hadn't been for intelligence, we would have had cases of mass murder in Northern Ireland [in 2011]”. This is a frightening idea as the only bomb in 2011 to claim a life was that of police officer Ronan Kerr. The rest only caused inconvenience and minor damage. It is scary to think that there are still people who want to return Northern Ireland to the violence and fear of the Troubles. I agree with Baggott in that people should not compare the intelligence services to the dark side as it does not help anyone and only increases resentment in communities (particularly nationalist ones) towards the police force. As Mick Fealty said on Twitter “The last 25 minutes have been brought to you by Star Wars…”
The issue around “punishment” attacks also arose during the debate and, as the Republican representative rightly pointed out, we should not call them “punishment attacks” as the word punishment implies that the person has done something to deserve the attack, which is not true. Another issue brought up was that of the re-hiring of retired RUC officers, Baggott said that ex-RUC officers who refused to co-operate with investigations into the past should not be re-hired.
The PSNI has come a long way in the past decade, but there is still plenty of work to be done to truly bring the two communities of Northern Ireland together into one.
The issue around “punishment” attacks also arose during the debate and, as the Republican representative rightly pointed out, we should not call them “punishment attacks” as the word punishment implies that the person has done something to deserve the attack, which is not true. Another issue brought up was that of the re-hiring of retired RUC officers, Baggott said that ex-RUC officers who refused to co-operate with investigations into the past should not be re-hired.
The PSNI has come a long way in the past decade, but there is still plenty of work to be done to truly bring the two communities of Northern Ireland together into one.
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