LATEST: High Alert after Newtownhamilton bomb
POLICE are set to swamp the Province in a bid to prevent attacks by dissident republicans in the run-up to the General Election, a member of the Policing Board has revealed.
The revelation from UUP MLA Basil McCrea comes after police met growing anger as they were accused of "abandoning" a south Armagh village.
Officers failed to arrive on the scene before Thursday night's car bomb exploded outside an unoccupied police station in Newtownhamilton.
The device, in a Toyota Corolla, detonated 50 minutes after a hospital received a telephone warning from the bombers – who also fired a volley of shots as they abandoned the vehicle.
A Lithuanian man and a woman in her 80s suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the explosion.
In the absence of police on the ground, firefighters were forced to co-ordinate an evacuation of nearby homes prior to the blast.
Mr McCrea said the deluge of officers involved in the stepping up of operations against dissident terrorists will have "a serious effect on the amount of officers able to carry out normal policing duties".
He said: "There are going to be more vehicle checkpoints on the ground and the public will have to be mindful that resources will be diverted away from normal policing duties.
"This will also undoubtedly cause inconvenience for many law abiding citizens. This is not a good thing but it has to be done to tackle the growing dissident threat."
The Assembly member for Lagan Valley said the intensification of police on the ground will come as confidence in chief constable Matt Baggott wanes.
"The various events that have happened have shaken confidence in the chief constable and in his senior command team – particularly in their ability to respond to the deteriorating security situation.
"It is important that he explains with clarity how he plans to respond and what additional resources if any he needs. And it is as a member of the Policing Board that I am seeking an urgent meeting with the chief constable. Despite requests none has been forthcoming so far."
Mr McCrea said the next few weeks will be a "key challenge for the chief constable".
"Everyone will be watching how he responds to the activities. There have been explosions at four police stations and they want to know how he will respond.
"The additional 800 million supposedly agreed at Hillsborough will not be sufficient to meet the current circumstances."
Mr McCrea said it was now time for the chief constable to revisit the police budget – "a budget agreed for a completely different set of circumstances".
"More money is going to be required," he said.
"When they talked about the money agreed in the Hillsborough Agreement, the UUP warned at the time that they were underestimating the conditions and the severity of the threat.
"It is not that we wish to distract the chief constable from the long term aim of winning the hearts and minds of the people of Northern Ireland with policing, but it appears we require a new and fresh strategy from him.
"But if the chief constable asks for more resources will all the political parties give their support?
"And if we are going to keep the surge in policing up are we going to have a problem with resources?"
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Monday 28 May 2012
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