Time to devolve law and order?
WHAT do the following serious crimes have in common?
- The Omagh bombing that killed 29 people, August 1998
- The 1 million Makro store robbery in Belfast, May 2003
- The 26 million robbery at the Northern Bank, Belfast, December 2004
- The murder of Robert McCartney, January 2005
- The murder of Paul Quinn, October 2007
- The series of raids in which ATM machines were removed by heavy machinery during 2009
- The murders of Sapper Patrick Azimkar and Sapper Mark Quinsey, March 2009
- The murder of PSNI PC Stephen Carroll, March 2009
- The attempted bomb attack at NI Policing Board headquarters, Belfast, November 2009
- The massive illegal fuel laundering plant near Jonesborough in south Armagh, raided by PSNI on December 1, 2009, after months of surveillance.
The answer: All of them were committed by Irish republicans and no one has yet been successfully brought to justice for any of these crimes.
Amongst those questioned or charged for the March 2009 murders are Marian Price, who bombed the Old Bailey with Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly, and Colin Duffy, a long-time poster boy for republican "human rights" campaigns.
In general, how many times did we hear the platitudes that no stone would be left unturned or that no one would rest until those responsible were brought to justice?
Why is it that while Sir Hugh Orde declared that he expected no further prosecutions for the Omagh bombing, hundreds of millions of pounds has been spent running inquiries that fit the republican propaganda narrative.
Are we supposed to believe that the police service in Northern Ireland, under its current and previous guise, is so incompetent as to leave a decade's worth of serious and murderous crime unsolved? Or are we to suspect that the people who committed these dreadful acts have been allowed to go unpunished because it is politically expedient to do so?
Has justice been sacrificed in the name of the "peace process"?
Would devolved policing be better directed so that serious crimes would result in convictions? Or would allowing republicans closer proximity to the strings of policing ensure that murderers, robbers and bombers continue to go about their craft unhindered by either the police or justice?
Will all victims be treated equally or will we continue to see that only those whose case makes for a headline grabbing political campaign matter?
Has the Northern Ireland Assembly thus far proven itself competent in the management of those powers that have been devolved to Stormont to such an extent that it merits being entrusted with policing and justice?
These are the questions that have to be answered if the public is to accept the devolution of policing and justice to Northern Ireland.
The bona fides of the republican movement is the single most vital aspect of the debate. Sinn Fein say they are committed to the rule of law, and officially they seem to stand by that, but behind the headlines the picture is not so clear.
Last November the Serious Organised Crime Agency froze the assets of Sean Hughes of south Armagh, who has had a bit of trouble with the law regarding alleged false accounting and benefit fraud. Just the sort of sensible law keeping that you would expect the entire community to support. Except the local MP, Conor Murphy, did not see it that way and kicked up a bit of a fuss, because Mr Hughes is a "sound republican". Would Mr Murphy have been so vexed if Mr Hughes had not been a "sound republican"?
Also last November, some 50 "sound republicans" laid siege to a police station in Crossmaglen with petrol bombs, paint, bricks and so forth.
All in all they showed little regard for the human rights of the officers trapped inside the building. Strangely the PSNI's press office, which usually makes details of newsworthy incidents known, kept quiet about the incident until this newspaper started asking questions. Funny that.
Would devolving policing and justice powers to Stormont make things better or worse? Would the mild-mannered David Ford – widely expected to become Justice Minister - really be able to stand his ground if he was engaged in robust discussion by a couple of Sinn Fein's hardmen?
The sort that might once have been described as "sound republicans". And for that matter would he also be able to ensure that no political hurdles are put in the way of officers following Iris Robinson's money trail.
For all sorts of political and practical reasons it would probably be best if policing and justice was managed locally, but there is a good way to go before a large chunk of the population will be convinced that now is a good time to do it.
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Tuesday 14 February 2012
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