PSNI sectarianism claims 'are already being treated as if they are fact'

The former head of the PSNI's discipline branch, who is acting as a spokesman for a group of over 40 former officers who strongly reject the sectarianism allegations, said the claims were presented as evidence that the police are not "fit for purpose" in a recent university debate.

His comments are the latest instalment of the story, which has been running since March.

Back then, a former member of the PSNI Tactical Support Group (TSG) going under the name 'Sean' made accusations in the Belfast Telegraph of anti-Catholic bias within the unit, including hearing the phrase "fenian b******s".

Then at the Policing Board this month, the Chief Constable said that whilst he does not believe that Sean faced sectarianism in the unit, he is a "thoroughly decent" man.

Mr Burrows, who spent 17 years in supervisory roles within the police, has been vocal in countering Sean's allegations, complaining that "equal weight was given to one person's anonymous and discredited testimony as to scores of people who wanted to give sworn evidence" in opposition to Sean's allegations.

Now he has warned that, for some, Sean's allegations have already become fact.

Mr Burrows was recently at a debate at Queen's University Belfast on the motion that the PSNI is "not fit for purpose".

Mr Burrows said: "One of the students proposing the motion, in doing his research, had of course come across Sean's story – and that then became presented as evidence of the PSNI not being fit for purpose (with a range of other issues, and they were all quite constructive).

"This to me shows the great danger of the approach that's been taken to this.

"We now live in an AI world, and because the media covered the stories and the PSNI's response was, at best, ambiguous and maybe validated them, they then become part of a settled narrative that, years later, when people go to research work, that's what they'll see.

"That's why it's really important it's fact-checked and the PSNI come out with clear statements and actually denounce it."

Mr Burrows added that when he visited an AI site and typed in “is the PSNI sectarian?”, Sean's testimony came up as supporting evidence.

"It just shows you just how dangerous it is if these things aren't properly dealt with, because it just becomes part of a settled narrative about policing,” he said.

The collection of allegations "gets fed into research, AI, and becomes the truth".

The News Letter pressed the PSNI over the matter last week.

Among the questions asked was how the chief constable can reconcile his rejection of the idea that Sean faced sectarianism with his characterisation of him as a "thoroughly decent" man.

The force was first asked this last Monday, to which it responded: "The Chief Constable outlined his position at the Board and we have nothing further to add."

When it was asked this again (along with other questions) on Thursday and Friday, the PSNI did not respond at all.

Sean’s lawyer has said he stands over his account of what happened, though he was also quoted as saying that the sectarianism he encountered was “nuanced” rather than “overt”.