IN a profoundly chilling development, a hardline dissident republican group has threatened not only police officers but also their relatives.
Arm na Poblachta, in a warning made in a statement to this newspaper, said that it regarded "the families of PSNI officers as legitimate targets".
"The PSNI have targeted republican sympathisers, now republicans will target family members of PSNI officers," said the paramilitary group, which is believed to include among its ranks former members of the Continuity IRA and Óglaigh na hÉireann.
It is thought to be the first time that civilian relatives of PSNI officers have been directly threatened by an armed republican group. There is cold comfort in the fact that the ANP threat apparently does not include the children of PSNI officers – the targeting of any individual or group by paramilitary and criminal gangs is wholly reprehensible. And the idea that a paramilitary group seems to believe it deserves any sort of credit for saying who it won't target is ludicrous and should be seen as self-serving hypocrisy.
The sinister warning comes just a fortnight after another anti-agreement republican paramilitary group, the New IRA, ruthlessly targeted off-duty Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell at a sports complex outside Omagh.
Mr Caldwell was left fighting for his life after being gunned down in front of children, including his son, as he put footballs in the boot of his car. The attack sent shockwaves across the north and beyond, and prompted leading figures from our five largest political parties to stand in solidarity with Chief Constable Simon Byrne.
The PSNI is taking the latest threat seriously and has moved swiftly to remind officers – as Assistant Chief Constable Mark McEwan said – "to take reasonable steps around their security on and off duty".
"They are well used to these sorts of messages anyway," he said, which reflects the vigilance that police officers feel they must still exercise in their daily lives.
The police have also established a 'gold group' to coordinate the response to the threat and recent armed republican activity.
It is deeply depressing that 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement, and more than 20 years after the PSNI was formed, police officers who seek to serve and improve their communities are still at risk.
That their families are now also drawn into this horrific and frightening scenario will be regarded as despicable by the overwhelming majority of people who simply want to live peaceful lives and support the police service.
