POLICE in Crossmaglen have been accused of "putting on a show" for Chief Constable Simon Byrne in a controversial Christmas Day picture.
The new PSNI chief has defended a tweet showing him standing alongside heavily armed officers in south Armagh.
He wrote: "On Christmas morning great to meet the team policing Crossmaglen
@PSNINMDown I take my hat off to colleagues policing such a unique part of
@PoliceServiceNI Their sense of duty & optimism is inspiring. Stay safe and thank you."
Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy described the tweet as "offensive", while SDLP Slieve Gullion representative Pete Byrne said he was seeking an urgent meeting in the wake of the social media post which he said was a "backward step" for policing.
Responding to the criticism, Mr Byrne tweeted that his original post had "caused some emotion" and he looked forward to meeting political and community representatives.
He said: "The officers are carrying weapons and sadly this is the stark reality of the policing environment they work in, tackling the severe terrorist threat.
"This is no reflection on the local community who work daily with their local police officers to create a safe community."
A senior security source last night suggested the 'Kite sight' on the weapons pictured would not be routinely used in any area of Northern Ireland.
While the guns are standard issue Heckler & Koch G36C, used by police forces across the UK, the addition of a night sight during the day-time visit has been questioned.
The source said a large station armoury would only have two or three Kite sights in total.
"They're rarely used and on a sign in/sign out basis," the source said.
"To put them on for the picture was a choice, they don’t come like that and are never normally carried like that.
"Use would likely be single figures over the past few years.
"Any used are normally for missing persons in rural areas at night."
The PSNI are set to recruit their next batch of officers early in the new year, in a campaign which hopes to attract more Catholic members.
As part of a drive to balance out recruitment numbers, an Irish language version of the PSNI's "Keeping People Safe" motto - "Ag Coimead Daoine Sabhailte" - was carried in a full page advertisement in this year's All-Ireland final programmes.
Former Chief Constable George Hamilton warned before his retirement earlier this year that the proportion of Catholic officers - currently 32 per cent - is likely to drop "if nothing changes" as both the application rate and success rate of Catholics "falls well below" what it should be.
Catholic primate Archbishop Eamon Martin recently called for a return to 50:50 recruitment.
"PR like this does nothing to help and might actually hinder that process," the security source said.
