Northern Ireland

Fall out from pandemic policing will take years to repair, says Police Federation Chairman Mark Lindsay

Police Federation Northern Ireland chairman Mark Lindsay.
Police Federation Northern Ireland chairman Mark Lindsay. Police Federation Northern Ireland chairman Mark Lindsay.

A WEEK following the PSNI operation which resulted in a Troubles' victim being arrested, Police Federation chairman Mark Lindsay has said that there were real concerns that anger at the Ormeau Road incident would spill onto the streets.

Mark Sykes was arrested last Friday at a memorial marking the 29th anniversary of the loyalist murders of five people at Sean Graham's bookmakers in south Belfast.

Mr Sykes was shot seven times in the 1992 UDA attack.

One officer has been suspended and another re-positioned, with the Police Ombudsman called in to investigate the incident, which Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O'Neill has described as a "crisis in policing".

Mr Lindsay said it was "a very tense Friday and Saturday" after footage of the incident was posted on social media. The images have now been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

"While the chief constable was under a lot of pressure, I still think that the organisation should have taken a step back," he said.

"The ombudsman should have been brought in earlier and maybe they should have been making a statement about what action was being taken as that is their role.

"Policing, no matter what some people say, is very much sensitive to communities and I think there is no doubt that there was that palpable sense of anger and frustration. There was worry that if something got out of control it wouldn't do anybody any good.

"It wouldn't do communities any good and it wouldn't do policing any good.

"I think there was very much a realisation of that and I was very conscious that this was very dangerous ground we were on."

Mr Lindsay said he was alerted to the Ormeau Road incident on Friday evening by a former colleague who sent him a link to the video.

"I did shake my head because on the face of it you knew this wasn't going to end well. You knew that there would be community anger around it and knew the police would have some explaining to do," he added.

Mr Lindsay says that policing of coronavirus pandemic has been "deeply damaging" to community policing.

"Anybody in policing could see there was issues.

"There was constant criticism of how the police were seen to deal or not deal with it. We're being stuck in the middle here and we can't please everybody.

"Pitt Park was a different scenario. They saved life, they preserved life they stopped people becoming injured, but there's that perception.

"I don't think police deal with that very well in their comms, those things should be explained better as opposed to just releasing a grey press statement.

"I don't think the public understand the amount of planning and community impact assessment that goes into almost every operational decision.

"Sometimes things go wrong. Sometimes it is the police's fault and something has been missed. But sometimes it is outside of their control.

"I think it's important those things are explained. You maybe can't explain to every member of the public, but certainly politicians and community leaders should know about those considerations.

"Sometimes the police are too cautious in explaining how we have got to a certain situation and how police are or are not deployed".

The federation chairman added that while politically "there has a been a little bit more maturity" as the week has gone on, initially he was disappointed "with political reaction".

"While there was anger it's up to senior political representatives to have cool heads and wait until we start to see what the facts are", he said.

"There was a lot of anger within the organisation at how all of a sudden two police officers - not the organisation - became the focus.

"But I'm also acutely aware of officers within the service, who do come from different backgrounds, and who were affected by what happened.

"I think we all have to be very conscious of that."

Earlier this week a number of Catholic officers told the Irish News there was "discontent" at the events on the Ormeau Road and the reaction to it from some within policing.

"There's a number of issues around Catholic/nationalist officers, or people from different backgrounds and different areas joining the police," said Mr Lindsay.

"A big part of that is the sacrifice, and no one has ever doubted the sacrifice people have to make in joining the police. They do on occasions have to leave family behind, friends, social circles. You do live almost a double life.

"So there's an equal responsibility on policing internally to make sure - while there are different views - everyone is sensitive and aware that the person you are working with does have a different background and has made those sacrifices."

Mr Lindsay also added that the damage to community policing from enforcing Covid legislation would take years to repair and questioned why wardens were not hired to issue fines rather than leaving it to uniform officers.

"We are caught in the middle of a unique set of circumstances. Policing has been thrust into something that isn't always a police responsibility, but we have been tasked with trying to deal with it.

"I don't think anyone is comfortable with that, we should have been looking at wardens at the start, council wardens, social wardens, temporary jobs for two years.

"It should be dealt with the same way you have breaches of noise regulations or dog fouling, and that takes it away from the police.

"Because the police simply cannot win in this and I think what is very disappointing is how health legislation is treated like a political intervention and if we don't deal with you the way we deal with someone else that's political bias, when it's simply not," he added.