Denis Bradley: A problem on the ground is not a crisis in policing - Sean Graham Bookmakers memorial row

He was speaking about the political row after a man was arrested at a victims commemoration on the Ormeau Road on Friday, in memory of five people gunned down by the UDA at the site in February 1992.

Chief Constable Simon Byrne later apologised in relation to the arrest and announced he had suspended one officer and moved another to other duties.

Sinn Fein said the matter had caused a crisis of confidence in policing among nationalists.

But speaking on Radio Ulster today, Mr Bradley also said that “the broad nationalist community has has a lot of confidence” in oversight bodies put in place to hold the PSNI accountable.

The BBC put it to Mr Bradley that Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly and Michelle O’Neill are “not one bit happy with the way this has been handled”.

Mr Bradley responded: “Well that is fair enough and that is up to the Policing Board of which Gerry Kelly is a member to actually take that on board and to begin to probe it.”

However, he said it was failures by politicians and governments that meant police are continually pulled into legacy matters, as happened on the Ormeau Road on Friday.

“But every time there is a problem on the ground does not mean there is a crisis in policing,” he added. “It means there is an issue that has to be dealt with and we have the mechanisms to deal with it.

“And I think that in the broad nationalist community there is a lot of confidence in the ombudsman’s office, there is a lot of confidence in the Policing Board when it functions well.” He would, however, like it to be more public, but that can be dealt with, he added.

Meanwhile, the chair of the Police Federation says serving and retired officers feel “let down” by the action taken against the the two officers.

Mark Lindsay said that Covid-19 regulations make policing very difficult and that Chief Constable Simon Byrne and his senior command team face problems going forward.

“We have officers who feel let down, a substantial amount – I would say nearly all of the people I have spoken to – and the sense of both serving and retired officers that everybody had been let down,” Mr Lindsay told the BBC.

“Police officers are stuck in the middle of this pandemic. As I have said before, they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t around this legislation.

“And whenever they do their best and go out to do their best day and daily, and if errors are made, and I am not suggesting they have been in this case, but if errors are made they need the full support – until it has been proven that they have done something wrong and I don’t think that threshold has been met on this occasion.”

Tweets from the federation calling for its officers not to be made ‘scapegoats’ in relation to the arrest have been viewed an unprecedented 160,000 times and indicate the depth of feeling on the matter, it is reported.

On Saturday the federation tweeted that it had spoken to the chief constable about the “real concern” within the PSNI ranks about how “due process re: unfortunate incident on Ormeau Road has been bypassed”.

It added: “Officers involved attended on instruction in respect of #covid legislation and should not be made scapegoats.”

Ormeau Road arrest row: What injury did PSNI officer suffer and why was a man arrested?

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor