JUSTICE minister Naomi Long has said paramilitary 'gatekeepers' should not be allowed to prevent communities having their voices heard.
The PSNI has in the past been accused of 'cosy' relationships with people described by previous Chief Constable George Hamilton as community workers by day and paramilitaries by night.
The Independent Reporting Commission, created under the 2015 Fresh Start Agreement to monitor progress on tackling paramilitary activity, noted that "in a lawful democratic society this engagement by the state with members of illegal organisations cannot become a permanent norm as, ultimately, it undermines the development of a culture of lawfulness".
The Alliance Party leader said that while "all the statutory agencies at different times have to walk that fine line between engaging with people who set themselves up as gatekeepers", this could prevent people coming forward to give information to police.
"It gives people (paramilitaries) status within a community, which is unhelpful in breaking down the coercive control they have over communities, but also sends out a very negative message to those in the community who would help police in terms of providing information and cooperating with police enquiries into paramilitaries," Mrs Long said.
"Because their fear will be that there is a comfortable, cosy relationship between the police and those individuals that they are seen to be interacting with and the same again is true of other agencies.
Allison Morris: Law enforcement agencies playing 'whack-a-mole' with paramilitaries (premium)
"The anti-paramilitary strategy is something I want to see re-invigorated, it has achieved a good baseline but what has been lacking around it is political leadership.
"We haven't had anyone there to drive it."
The minister said when government agencies are engaging with communities they should be "doing that in a way that by-passes the gatekeepers".
"Not to exclude them from having a say, but exclude them from controlling who else has a say.
"I recognise that people who have former paramilitary links are members of our community, they have a right to have a say into what goes on, but they don't have a right to have disproportionate control over how that works.
"That's a challenge for all the agencies and in fairness when I raise this with police - and I have done this as an MLA - they will always say that while they have to engage with people who may have paramilitary connections, their first responsibility is keeping people safe and that includes pursuing paramilitaries.
"The fact that they have spoken to them about an incident, or whatever it might be, does not preclude them from going after them and charging them with offences if evidence and information becomes available.
"I suppose for me it is about ensuring there is public confidence and that people who observe that type of interaction aren't dissuaded from going to police and trusting police to actually pursue these individuals."
