The SDLP has responded angrily to comments attributed to PSNI chief constable Sir Hugh Orde in an internal police memo circulated following the publication of Police Ombudsman report into collusion in north Belfast.
The comments, unearthed in a confidential memo obtained by the BBC, reportedly referred to criticisms of the police as being "unfair and damaging," and claimed policing was being "used for political purposes."
A statement issued today by SDLP policing spokesman Alex Attwood condemned the comments saying the party was "angry at the contents of the Chief Constable email". It went on to say that party members "find it hard to take the immoderate and ill judged comments of the police leadership."
Mr Attwood suggested "that the police leadership have got themselves on the wrong side of this argument and they should be trying to get back on the right side of the people who worked most with taking the police, the Police Ombudsman and the Policing Board so far forward."