Policing Board itself 'might not survive current crisis': Jon Burrows

Mr Burrows has questioned whether the board itself will survive in its current form, following the resignation of Chief Constable Simon Byrne and the Police Federation voting unanimously to express ‘no confidence’ in Deputy Chief Constable Mark Hamilton.

On Wednesday, board member Mike Nesbitt said it was his understanding that the board had “no choice” but to appoint Mr Hamiltion as the interim head of the service following Mr Byrne’s exit.

Mr Burrows said: “The Policing Board have serious questions to answer and in the long term they may not survive this. The chief constable resigned because his deputy – albeit under his encouragement – treated two young police officers unlawfully and unfairly for entirely inappropriate political reasons; to then make the said deputy the interim chief constable was a spectacular error.”

Speaking to the News Letter, Mr Burrows added: “The board failed to see what was inevitable – the deputy chief constable faced the same insurmountable problems in commanding any trust in the brave men and women of the PSNI. In many ways they failed him by giving him a job, even on an interim basis he couldn’t possibly do. The board is caught in the headlights, but they are crashing more than just themselves.”Mr Burrows has suggested a judge-led inquiry into what he called “politicised policing” in NI, and reviews of both the PSNI leadership and the Policing Board.

Speaking to the BBC Nolan show, Jim Gamble said: "The Policing Board have made this ten times worse by appointing Mark [Hamilton] as de facto chief”.

He added: "Mark should have been repositioned – not sacked, I'm not suggesting anything like that – [but] repositioned up to and until a full review has taken place, so we know what we are dealing with”.