Republican News · Thursday 11 April 2002

PSNI passing out a non-event

Derry Sinn Féin Policing spokesperson Councillor Paul Fleming labelled the first passing out parade of PSNI recruits as a non event.

"Forty-four new PSNI officers, half of them Catholic, have as much chance of changing the RUC as the Policing Board does," he said. "They will be absorbed into the RUC culture and ethos that has blighted policing in the North and instead of becoming part of a new beginning to policing they will only be adding to the same old problem.

"After the events of the last week, we can only assume that the passing out parade will see these recruits march past with their new flag in one hand and sledgehammers in the other.

Rounding on the SDLP position on policing, Fleming continued:

"As for the ludicrous claims by the SDLP that they are on the Policing Board to bring about change they need to stop the waffle and answer the question: How can the Policing Board hold the RUC to account?

"In response to the obvious Special Branch smokescreen over Castlereagh, the SDLP and their highly paid crony Dennis Bradley can not even visit the homes or offices that have been ransacked in Derry - homes and offices that they pass every day as they travel around the city.

"Instead of holding the RUC to account, as envisaged by the Patten Report, they are reduced to trying to explain their actions and defend the indefensible.

"The crux of the matter is that the Policing Board does not have the power to hold the RUC to account, and no amount of waffle can disguise that fact."