Editorial: ​Police station concerns fuel fears of further symbolic retreat by the PSNI at the border

​Fears over the future of a police station in Fermanagh will evoke genuine concerns in border communities about the message it sends to criminals, including dissident terrorists.

​Given the area’s history of sectarian slaughter of border Protestants by armed republican militias like the Provisional IRA, the idea of having no security base in Lisnaskea will be deeply unsettling for many.

The issue was raised by the UUP peer Lord Elliott – prompting a somewhat half-hearted commitment to the town’s police station by the PSNI.

They say there are “currently no plans to close” the station, and “no immediate plans” to cease its role as an operational base. Any change would require “extensive consultation”, they say.

Local representatives seem confident, however, that the station is under threat in the next few years. That is a situation that cannot be allowed to happen.

Only last week, the deadly threat still posed by dissident republicans was once again highlighted, with a sophisticated device intercepted by Garda just across the border in County Monaghan.

Bricks and mortar won’t stop that. Such successes are down to the excellent work of police and intelligence officers.

Of course the police estate must be rationalised. It would be not have been credible to retain bases in nearby areas like Rosslea, Newtownbutler and Maguiresbridge – now covered by Lisnaskea.

But that does not mean leaving large swathes of rural Fermanagh without a local base for policing, reliant on facilities miles away in Kesh or Enniskillen. The police estate has been rationalised enough along the border.

Any further retreat by the PSNI sends the wrong message to organised crime gangs and terrorists – and creates unnecessary fear for local communities.