The accusation of “political policing” is common in Northern Ireland but it is rare to have it starkly confirmed by a judge. The High Court in Belfast has ruled the PSNI unlawfully disciplined two probationary constables in 2021 under pressure from Sinn Féin and in fear of the republican party withdrawing support for policing, or boycotting the policing board, which oversees the PSNI.
The constables had made arrests after intervening to enforce Covid regulations at a memorial service for the 1992 Sean Graham bookmaker’s massacre, when six people – all Catholic – were murdered by loyalists. One of those arrested had been shot during the massacre. So republican anger was understandable and it was hardly surprising that Gerry Kelly, Sinn Féin’s leader on the board, telephoned an assistant chief constable to remonstrate.
That did not excuse punishing the constables for performing their duty as instructed.
The PSNI’s barrister told the High Court the incident posed an existential threat to policing in Northern Ireland. The judge found even that was not a “legally permissible” consideration.
All this would be serious enough were it not linked to other problems creating a crisis of confidence in the PSNI.
Chief constable Simon Byrne had publicly apologised to Sinn Féin and confirmed both officers would be disciplined. This caused a disastrous fall in morale among rank-and-file officers, who lost faith in management to support them in difficult circumstances. The data breaches reported over the past month would not have provoked so much despair if officers were not already feeling exposed and unsupported.
Nor does it seem lessons have been learned. PSNI management initially blamed the largest breach on a mistake by one employee, although the data clearly leaked due to systemic failures.
In 2014 several senior PSNI officers were arrested over accusations of bribery in police vehicle contracts. The only wrongdoing ever discovered was the PSNI’s covert surveillance of the suspects, and the case was quietly dropped last December. It is becoming fair to ask how much this saga has damaged trust within management and driven out talent. If headquarters has spent a decade at war with itself, little wonder the PSNI is in trouble.
Policing in Northern Ireland is fated to walk a tightrope between loyalist and republican allegations of bias. To do so it must avoid any perception of political pandering.
The 2021 incident came seven months after the Bobby Storey funeral, which the PSNI facilitated in breach of Covid and parading laws. Both incidents now appear to fit a pattern of appeasing Sinn Féin. The breach of parading law remains ignored, antagonising loyalists and jeopardising two decades of painstaking progress on the parading issue.
Although a Sinn Féin boycott of the policing board would be unfortunate, it must be considered unlikely, as the party would suffer most of the downsides
In his phone call, Kelly complained the PSNI had not intervened in a loyalist show of strength in Belfast three days earlier. Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill made the same complaint online. The judge found this comparison was irrelevant – they were different scenarios and many of the loyalists were subsequently arrested – yet it still led Byrne and a deputy chief constable to discipline the two constables.
Predictably, loyalists are outraged but republicans are not happy either. They ask why loyalists groups are still tolerated 25 years after the Belfast Agreement, and they do not much like the answer: the PSNI has to operate within the carrot-and-stick approach to paramilitary “transition” that underpins the peace process and is Stormont policy. When a court finds the PSNI engages in political pandering, it is easier to believe loyalists benefit from it as well.
Although a Sinn Féin boycott of the policing board would be unfortunate, it must be considered unlikely, as the party would suffer most of the downsides. Walking out would embolden dissidents, alarm many nationalists and be a retrograde step while anticipating office in the Republic. When Sinn Féin collapsed Stormont in 2017 it had the incidental effect of collapsing the policing board for almost two years. Policing continued regardless. One of the board’s first acts once it reconvened was to recruit Byrne, the unanimous choice of all parties. There is plenty of blame for his tenure to go around.
Pandering to republicans to maintain their support for policing is a confused reading of history. Policing was part of the Belfast Agreement, and the PSNI was created under its terms in 2001, but Sinn Féin broke its promises and demanded to police republican communities through IRA-linked “restorative justice” schemes. Only when London, Dublin and Washington lost patience over the Northern Bank robbery and the 2005 murder of Robert McCartney did the party back down, taking its place on the policing board in 2007 and finally accepting devolved policing and justice in 2010.
Republicans, like loyalists, will do what they can until somebody stands up to them – as most previous PSNI chief constables have understood.