PSNI – Page 4 – Slugger O'Toole

Bell’s arrest may put new pressure on Adams and produce new cracks in omerta

Brian Walker on March 22, 2014, 10:24 am

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The arrest of Ivor Bell in connection with the murder and disappearance of Jean McConville is I’m sure already releasing a flood of speculation about new pressure on Gerry Adams and is perhaps the most dramatic sign yet of a final breach between Sinn Fein and old comrades who are opposed to their current political strategy. The timing and the IRA status of the arrested man are all significant but it will take time for the exact significance to become …

Clearing up the social mess created by the #ShinnersList is only a first stage…

Mick Fealty on March 3, 2014, 8:10 pm

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So one thing the revelation of the #ShinnersList might do is to reset public discussion over policing and justice to something a little saner than heretofore [travel in hope rather than expectation, eh? – Ed]. One problem Unionist politicians have been bombarded with for years is the idea put to them repeatedly by Loyalists that Republicans had some kind of amnesty in their back pockets whilst they, plainly it now seems, had none. [Wonder who told them that? – Ed] …

“Just to confuse matters, some elements of the tale of the On The Runs appear to have been hidden in plain sight.”

Pete Baker on March 1, 2014, 4:26 pm

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BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport with, perhaps, the best description of the mechanism used to address the issue of on-the-runs. From Mark Devenport’s BBC blog While republicans insist unionists knew all about what was happening to the On The Runs, that is not strictly true. Senior PSNI officers answered some questions posed by Northern Ireland Policing Board members and the scheme got a glancing reference in the voluminous Eames-Bradley report on dealing with the legacy of the Troubles. But when former …

So now I’m suing, now I’m not…

Mick Fealty on February 27, 2014, 10:43 pm

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This, for the record, is one of the oddest stories I’ve seen since I started blogging on Northern Ireland. Here, without further comment is Gerry Kelly explaining his decision to withdraw his legal action against the Chief Constable of the PSNI, three days after announcing it: …on Thursday, the North Belfast MLA said the incident had “unfortunately split opinion into two camps of unionist versus nationalist alongside elements in the media reducing the issue to one of money”. “Issuing the …

“The Government communicated back the response to Sinn Fein via a letter from the Northern Ireland Office…”

Pete Baker on February 26, 2014, 2:23 pm

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Via the Guardian politics live-blog. Worth noting the written ministerial statement from the NI Secretary of State, dated yesterday, which details the mechanism of the on-the-runs administrative scheme [added emphasis throughout] The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mrs Theresa Villiers): On 21 February, Mr Justice Sweeney ruled that an abuse of process had taken place in the prosecution of John Downey for offences relating to the Hyde Park bombing which took place on 20 July 1982. Mr Downey was part …

Policing Board member Gerry Kelly sues Board’s own ’employee’ the Chief Constable of the PSNI

Mick Fealty on February 25, 2014, 10:10 am

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Given the currency of the debate on reform of the Garda oversight system in the Republic, and Sinn Fein’s settled view that an NI style policing board system – ie, where power is distributed between a basket of political parties – is preferable to direct control by the minister it’s a little odd that their most senior representative on the PBNI has, as the Belfast Telegraph reports: “…taken a civil case against the PSNI chief constable (Matt Baggott) over the …

Cunningham changes plea on Northern Bank robbery money-laundering charges

Pete Baker on February 18, 2014, 4:48 pm

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65-year-old Cork-based financier Ted Cunningham has re-joined the list of those convicted as a result of “Operation Phoenix”, a huge cross-border investigation into the December 2004 Northern Bank robbery – “involving anti-terrorist units, fraud squads and the Criminal Assets Bureau.” His original 2009 convictions, and his 10 year sentence, were overturned on appeal in 2012, after the Irish Supreme Court ruled that certain search warrants used had been unconstitutional. As an Irish Independent report noted at the time The three-judge [Court of Criminal Appeal] quashed …

Executive finally reading what the Minister of Justice actually says about recruiting the next CC?

Mick Fealty on February 14, 2014, 4:22 pm

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Executive has taken no decision on criteria for Chief Constable appointment will examine consultation paper over next few days — Mark Devenport (@markdevenport) February 13, 2014 Again, I’m grateful for this snippet from Mark Devenport. After a lot of bellicosity from all parties on the policing board perhaps it is slowly sinking in with members (rarely heard from when the PSNI are under fire) that it is indeed the Minister of Justice’s responsibility to legislate the framework for the next …

NI Justice Minister: “I trust that the executive will recognise that it is the right decision, and that I was right to make it”

Pete Baker on January 31, 2014, 4:46 pm

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In the aftermath of the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers/Executive/Assembly/Policing Board members semi-detached polit-bureau’s kerfuffle over the NI Justice Minister’s proposed changes to the criteria for the next Chief Constable, Liam Clarke reveals some significant correspondence on the matter. Firstly, the Chief Executive of the NI Policing Board, Sam Pollock, tries his hand at herding cats to put some manners on members of the Board. In his letter to Policing Board members, Mr Pollock wrote: “I am disappointed in the …

NI Justice Minister: “It is important to note that, in setting some minimum standards, I am not prohibiting the Board from adding to these minimum criteria…”

Pete Baker on January 28, 2014, 2:39 pm

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Whilst Brian may regard them as “surely sensible” changes to the criteria for the next Chief Constable, and they may well be, as I mentioned in updates to a previous post, no sooner had the Northern Ireland Justice Minister, the Alliance Party’s David Ford, announced those changes than the NI First and deputy First Ministers promptly agreed to exercise their prerogative to call his decision into the dysfunctional NI Executive semi-detached polit-bureau [Where it will be put to the sword… – …

No, the PSNI Chief Constable hasn’t “the toughest policing job in the world”

Brian Walker on January 28, 2014, 12:34 pm

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Here we are, still sold on the idea of how exceptional we are. Comment on Mick’s post on the appointment of a chief constable failed to notice that there’s a wider world out there. It’s no longer the case that the PSNI have “the toughest policing job in in the world” and other superlatives. Try the Met which has gone through three commissioners in five years. Race issues, jihadist extremism and flash rioting in today’s human rights culture make it very tough for …

Memo to the next Chief Constable: “It sounds to me like a battle a day – a siege.”

Mick Fealty on January 24, 2014, 11:50 am

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I’m sure it is only decent christian forbearance that stops the Chief Constable Matt Baggott from telling his political employers exactly what he thinks of them. They booked him for the gig knowing exactly what they were getting, and they could have sacked him at any point after. Not that you’d know that from their public utterances during the last two or three summers. The running public commentary (which contrived to undermine the cops very cops they themselves are in …

Matt Baggott to step down as PSNI Chief Constable

Pete Baker on January 22, 2014, 12:41 pm

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Having been appointed, unanimously, by the Northern Ireland Policing Board in August 2009, PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott is to step down from the post. And, apparently, he is to retire from policing after a 37-year-long career. His contract was due to end in September 2014. Presumably he will remain in position here until then… From the BBC report He took up the job as head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland in August 2009 and his contract ends in September 2014. …

Chief Constable Matt Baggott to retire later this year & not extend his contract

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 22, 2014, 12:31 pm

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Chief Constable Matt Baggott has announced that he will retire and not seek an extension to his contract. UTV quote from his email to PSNI colleagues: I wanted to let you know that I have notified the Policing Board this morning of my intention to retire from the PSNI later this year. As such I will not be seeking an extension to my contract which ends in September 2014. I felt it important that you should hear about this first …

DCC Judith Gillespie: “Policing remains one of the most visible institutions whose actions are interpreted through opposing narratives and lenses…”

Gary Kent on October 24, 2013, 2:03 pm

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One woman dominated the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly this week in London – not the Secretary of State Theresa Villiers who opened the Assembly on Monday, but Judith Gillespie OBE, Deputy Chief Constable of the PSNI. She was no uninspiring plod – all proceeding northerly in strangulated officialise. She brought passion, conviction and incisiveness to the table. Her “sterling” speech, as Paul Bew put it, was also described as a tour de force in outlining the journey from the RUC into …

“The family are of the view it is vital that the police ombudsman receives this journal…”

Pete Baker on October 23, 2013, 12:39 am

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As I noted back in January this year, an inquest has yet to be held into the death of former senior Sinn Féin member, and informer, Denis Donaldson in 2006 – responsibility for which was claimed by the Real IRA. And, despite a previous NI Police Ombudsman‘s finding that there had been no police misconduct here, the new incumbent launched an investigation into allegations that officers may have contributed to his death. But that investigation is, reportedly, facing obstruction from the An Garda Siochana – who have refused to …

PSNI investigation of Bloody Sunday show limits of GFA in dealing with the past.

Mick Fealty on October 21, 2013, 4:31 pm

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So the PSNI are going to open an investigation into Bloody Sunday. So, in theory at least, no one is safe from possible future prosecution. Richard Dannett, former Chief of the General Staff in the British Army notes: Soldiers gave evidence [to Saville] in good faith not fearing later prosecution. Is that good faith now to be abused? And 2010 the Nationalist community in Londonderry seemed to accept the Saville findings thus apparently closing that sorry chapter of Northern Ireland history. …

The SNP cooperates, but Northern Ireland stays partly aloof from UK National Crime Agency

Brian Walker on October 7, 2013, 12:18 pm

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Isn’t this amazing? Here we have a Scottish government poised for a referendum on independence, yet in the meantime enthusiastically co-operating with making the new UK National Crime Agency effective in Scotland. A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The introduction of Serious Crime Prevention Orders will give law enforcement agencies another vital tool in their kit. “The Scottish Government is consulting on their introduction, which we hope will follow a similar format to those in place in England and Wales, in the …

“given the particular operational emphasis of this year’s conference…”

Pete Baker on September 17, 2013, 2:04 pm

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According to a Belfast Telegraph report, unlike previous years, neither the Northern Ireland Justice Minister, David Ford, nor the Irish Justice Minister, Alan Shatter, will attend this year’s cross-border police summit on organised crime co-operation. From the Belfast Telegraph report Mr Shatter said that, given the particular operational emphasis of this year’s conference, it would be more appropriate for the Garda Commissioner and the PSNI Chief Constable to take the lead. Rather than attend the conference, the two ministers, the Commissioner …

Is ‘Mutual Aid’ an explicit criticism of PSNI political policing?

John Ó Néill on July 15, 2013, 2:31 pm

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Chris has pretty much nailed most of the 2013 #Twelfth (so far) apart from one issue which has generally passed almost without comment. A couple of days before the Twelfth, the PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott announced that 630 extra police officers would be deployed for the 2013 marching season. These officers would be drafted in from England, Scotland and Wales. The BelTel on 10th July reported: Speaking last night, Mr Baggott said the operational move was made as this year …