UNIONISTS have been accused of a "kneejerk" reaction to the controversy surrounding the decision not to prosecute Sinn Féin representatives for Covid breaches at last year's funeral of Bobby Storey.
The Ulster Unionist Party has joined the DUP, TUV and PUP in calling for the resignation of Chief Constable Simon Byrne after it emerged earlier this week that the PSNI had engaged with funeral organisers beforehand.
The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) cited the prior engagement as one of the reasons it chose not to prosecute 24 Sinn Féin representatives for breaches of coronavirus regulations.
The PPS has said it will review its decision, while the PSNI's policing of last June's funeral is to be examined by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).
But UUP leader Steve Aiken yesterday questioned the HMIC's probe's independence, likening it to "marking the police service's own homework".
Outlining why he was calling for the chief constable to resign ahead of the HMIC report, the South Antrim MLA said the exercise would not make "any difference".
Asked in an interview with the BBC, why he wouldn't wait for the outcome of the investigation, he said: "The confidence in the community has been lost now. It's not going to be restored by her Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary report.
"The concern will have to be that HMIC will come in and do a report and in many cases it will be marking the police service's own homework."
Mr Aiken conceded he did not know if the police engagement with the organisers ahead of the funeral involved warnings that Covid-19 regulations needed to be observed.
The SDLP said unionists were pre-empting the outcome of the PPS review and HMIC probe.
"Clear questions for PSNI to answer over inconsistency in approach, but the right place is through the Policing Board and accountability structures," an SDLP spokesperson said.
"Kneejerk statements are unhelpful and do nothing to increase public confidence in policing."
Alliance MLA and Policing Board member John Blair said the "public and political outrage" that followed the funeral was justified and he criticised Sinn Féin for its "refusal to issue an unambiguous and unequivocal apology".
But he described the current controversy around policing as a "distraction" and said the Policing Board was "responsible for the recruitment of the PSNI’s top team".
"That is the proper process – it would be irresponsible to start hiring and firing by political demand, particularly in the context of Northern Ireland," Mr Blair said.
"That is not conducive to good policing or indeed public confidence in the institutions."
The South Antrim representative said there was a "serious inconsistency" in agreeing for a review of the policing in relation to the Bobby Storey funeral and then "declaring what you want the outcome to be before it even takes place".
"We need calm, not kneejerk reactions and speculation, and to await the outcome of any such review," he said.
