SF primarily interested in confrontation rather than effective policing

With Alex Maskey terming deployment of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment in support of the PSNI ‘disgraceful’, the question which most readily springs to mind? How committed and genuine is Sinn Féin’s support for policing and justice in actuality? Rather than participating in policing boards in order to make Northern Ireland safer, republicans seem preoccupied with hampering the police in its efforts. Sinn Féin retains a purely attritional, confrontational attitude to policing and the PSNI.

It is perfectly clear that this new special force’s presence is aimed at a real and pervasive threat. In addition, the unit will not fulfil an operational role. It is being deployed, as the chief constable insists, to increase the PSNI’s ‘technical capacity’. Sir Hugh Orde does not need to consult the policing board about this issue and nor should he. The police must be allowed to do their job effectively. The PSNI is only trying to prevent an atrocity being committed by Maskey’s old colleagues after all.

Comments

Timothy Belmont said…
It just seems to be in their psyche; their antipathy towards the Army in NI will never go away despite, as the Chief Constable reminded them, the reality that the Army has not gone away and, furthermore, maintains a garrison of up to 5,000 personnel here.

Dissidents remain a constant problem for all of us; I don't know whether SF could do more to dissuade them or not.
6 March 2009 at 10:04
Anonymous said…
You are telling a wee bit of a fib here, Chekov. Alex Maskey didn't describe the deployment of the the Special Reconnaissance Regiment as "disgraceful", he described the fact that Hugh Orde lied to the Policing Board as "disgraceful". Hugh Orde stated that only Bomb Disposal Units of the British Army where involved in Policing Northern Ireland.

So, the fact that Hugh Orde lied to the group that is supposed to hold the Police accountable does generate a cause for concern.
6 March 2009 at 10:34
Anonymous said…
What? Nothing on the fact that UCUNF is falling apart? Why so?
6 March 2009 at 14:40
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Football fever in Russia

Russia Blog is getting excited about Euro 2008. Indeed it is drawing parallels between Guus Hiddink and Peter the Great in terms of successful Russo-Dutch exchanges of expertise. Meanwhile, in Moscow, fans have been taking to the streets in order to celebrate the national team’s achievements.
Read more

Shia Revival

The Iranian author, Vali Nasr, has written an interesting book called The Shia Revival: How conflicts within Islam will shape the future .  Its argument is exceptionally pertinent at a time when European governments are edging toward arming Sunni extremists in Syria. Nasr portrays Shiism as the more liberal, palatable strand of Islam and a religion for underdogs.  He makes his point persuasively, although putting a progressive gloss on the regime in Iran and Hezbollah does undermine his thesis. A lot of the material is focussed on Iraq, where there is a Shia majority, which was suppressed during the presidency of Saddam Hussein.  The leading cleric, Ayatollah Sistani, is depicted as a moderating influence, who opposed retaliation as Sunni extremism threatened to cause sectarian civil war. The book’s opening chapter provides an erudite and fascinating history of factions within Islam.  The split dates back to the origins of the faith and a dispute over the prophet Mohammed’
Read more

Walker loada rubbish

Former BBC employee Brian Walker has overrun Slugger O’Toole lately with countless poorly structured, poorly written posts. It is possible quickly to recognize and avoid these by subjecting each Slugger piece to a cursory inspection and identifying those which feature characteristic lack of paragraphing and a tenuous grasp on the technicalities of linking source articles. Although I generally evade Walker’s posts by this method, occasionally (and unfortunately) I have persevered and found that their content is as unrewarding as the style in which they are written. Today, for instance, I inflicted upon myself Brian’s thoughts on a mooted Fianna Fail / SDLP merger . In actual fact, he is right to welcome news that the Southern Irish party has dropped this proposal from its agenda; however, the logic by which he arrives at this conclusion is parochial nonsense. To summarise, Walker believes that pursuing realignment with larger parties, whether they are from the rest of the UK or fro
Read more