South Armagh fiasco: DUP MLA says ‘I will quit Policing Board if Chief Constable endorses this report today’

West Tyrone MLA Tom Buchanan was speaking as shockwaves from the report – penned by two senior officers in the district – continued to reverberate through the unionist community yesterday.

The report into how the republican borderlands should be policed runs to over 170 pages, but some of its key proposals are as follows:

> Commanders should consider hiding memorials to murdered police officers from public view, in case republicans are offended by them when they visit a station;

> Creating joint “cross-border policing structures” which will let police carry out pursuits on both sides of the border – “as a minimum”;

> That the “look and feel” of police checkpoints must be “carefully considered to minimise community impact and avoid legacy associations”;

> That officers should have “a balanced understanding of emotional legacy issues” and recognise the “positive and respectful narrative” of south Armagh, with training provided by “external community” sources if need be.

Some unionists (particularly the DUP and TUV) have reacted with horror to the proposals, whilst Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy – a former IRA man from south Armagh – described them as the start of “real policing” for the area.

Chief Constable Simon Byrne issued a statement saying his deputy “will oversee implementation of the recommendations and a lot of work is already under way”.

A meeting of the Policing Board, addressed by the chief constable, will take place from around noon today, when he is expected to explain his position on the whole affair clear.

But ahead of that, in a bizarre development yesterday, news leaked out that the recommendation to hide memorials has already been rejected.

Stephen White, head of the RUC George Cross Foundation, told the News Letter he had spoken to Mr Byrne directly yesterday – twice – and that Mr Byrne assured him the idea of hiding the memorials had already been dismissed by him.

But if that is so, Mr White went on to wonder why the PSNI had allowed the belief to flourish over the last two days that this was still being seriously considered.

Then late last night, after having refused to answer questions about it all day, the PSNI press office issued a statement from Byrne giving “an assurance there would be no removal of memorials to fallen colleagues from any operational police stations”.

However, even this managed to leave things unclear; the issue is not about their “removal”, but rather their relocation to non-public areas.

‘I WILL QUIT IF CHIEF CON ENDORSES THIS’:

TUV leader Jim Allister had declared on Tuesday that, if the PSNI leadership does indeed go ahead and implement the whole report, all unionists should immediately quit the Policing Board in protest.

This was put to DUP member Thomas Buchanan, who told the News Letter: “Quite frankly, in my opinion when we look back over the past 12 months and see all the things that’ve taken place – the inequalities, the two-tier policing, all of it – it’s time for the chief constable to pack his bags, get on his bike, and go.”

He added: “All I do know is that confidence for policing in the unionist/loyalist community is diminishing fast.

“Because not a week goes by either in my office or on my mobile phone, I get calls from people in the unionist community who are completely frustrated and angry at what’s happening in the top brass of the police.

“But the chief constable doesn’t seem to get that ...

“From a party perspective, whether the party stays on the board or not is a matter for the party leader.

“From a personal point of view, I think if the chief constable accepts these recommendations and ... for me that’s a step too far to remain on the board.

“If there’s going to be the slightest indication from the chief constable that he’s going to be supporting all these recommendations and carrying them through, then I for one will not be remaining as a member of the Policing Board.”

And Mr White, who has been chairman of the George Cross Foundation since mid-2018 (and which has the aim of “marking the sacrifice and honouring the achievements of the RUC”) said Mr Byrne had assured him yesterday that hiding memorials to fallen officers had been “discounted by him ... and it was never a goer to begin with”.

He has no idea why Mr Byrne had not immediately come out publicly to make that clear himself.

More generally, Mr White (an ex-assistant chief constable with 30 years in the RUC and PSNI) said: “I’m 100% supportive, and always have been, of the development of better community relations and community policing.

“But why is it the onus is always on the police?

“Surely to goodness the onus is on political leaders, community leaders, public figures, to move the public towards the police?

“It always seems to be the police have to make concessions – it always has to be the police that have to make changes ... community policing is a two-sided instrument.”

‘THERE ARE TOO MANY WIDOWS TO AIRBRUSH IT ALL OUT’

A former policewoman who survived an INLA murder attempt has said she “despairs” at the news of the South Armagh Policing Review.

Hazel McCready was shot three times in Lurgan in 1976.

But she told the News Letter yesterday that in her group alone – The Wounded Police and Families Association – there are over 200 other members who also suffered such injuries, including some who were wounded in the south Armagh area.

“That report just makes it sound like fairytales – as if all that happened never happened,” she said.

“The blood on those hands over all those 50 years is disgusting and deplorable.

“They can’t be allowed to airbrush it.

“There are too many widows, too many injured.”

She said for such a report to have been produced by senior police makes her “just despair”.

During his roughly two years in post, Simon Byrne had yet to meet with her organisation, despite being invited to do so, she said.

More from this reporter:


Click here: Unionist MP contrasts ‘impotence’ of PSNI over INLA assault rifle display with prosecution of man for Manchester funeral gunfire

Click here: Loyalist vigilantes say ‘if PSNI fail us then we will police ourselves’ amid tensions in Moygashel / Dungannon

Click here: Director of group hired to train PSNI officers dubbed police ‘racist oppressor pigs who deserve the wall’

Click here: PSNI says officers should work in ‘empowering safe spaces’ as it urges everyone ‘to be LGBT+ allies’

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 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.