Policing has got to be ruthless
PSNI chief constable Matt Baggott maintains his Christian faith has a strong influence over him in the top policing role which he is appointed to in Northern Ireland and he even has gone so far as to claim that God has "called" him to that position.
While the deep personal sincerity of Mr Baggott is not in doubt and many will welcome such a clear profession of his faith, there will be tough challenges ahead.
Principal among this will be in tackling the strong threat from dissident republicans and other forms of serious crime which are so pernicious in our community.
However, as a policeman with 33 years experience and chief constable in a region where not very long ago terrorist crimes were rampant, Matt Baggott, with his senior officers, must exercise a ruthless leadership streak that gives absolutely no quarter to the evil and violent men and women who want to return this society to the dark and dangerous years of the Troubles.
The Christian attitude of turning the other cheek is not in the police manual when it comes to confronting terrorists and putting them behind bars for their crimes and Mr Baggott always needs to bear this in mind as head of the main law-enforcement agency in this region of the UK.
Matt Baggott has had a tough baptism since he arrived as chief constable from England in September and his task in recent days has not been helped by crass comments from his predecessor Sir Hugh Orde when he talked of there being "an acceptable level of violence" in Northern Ireland.
Such comments from a man of Hugh Orde's standing are totally unacceptable and must be immediately retracted.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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