Republican News · Thursday 12 December 2002

Kelly responds to Constantine report

"Special Branch is still operating as a force within a force," said Sinn Féin spokesperson on policing Gerry Kelly on Tuesday 10 December.

He was responding to the latest report on policing from Oversight Commissioner Tom Constantine, which said that the amalgamation of Special Branch with CID is moving so slowly that his [Constantine's] remit could run out before the changes are in line with those recommended by the Patten report.

Constantine claimed, however, that significant progress had been made on the implementation of Patten. Kelly rejected this: "Catholics and nationalists do not trust the present policing arrangements. It is obvious that the Special Branch is still a force within a force and that they are resisting any change. Catholics and nationalists do not trust the present policing arrangements and this is why they are not joining the PSNI."

"The necessary in service training on human rights, central to Patten has not progressed" Kelly pointed out. "It is extraordinary that there is no progress on ensuring that RUC personnel in the PSNI have been trained on the implications of the human rights oath. In fact, the position of Sinn Féin and Patten that all members should take the human rights oath has been vindicated.

"Our commitment is to a new beginning to policing and Sinn Féin will persist in our negotiations with the British government until we have that new beginning."

The issue of 50/50 recruitment to the PSNI was also an issue for Constantine.

Earlier in the week, unionist politicians called for the 50/50 requirement in recruitment to the PSNI to be dropped, given that Catholics were refusing to come forward. It was reported that only 10% of successful applications for clerical posts with the PSNI were from Catholics.

"The facts are quite stark," conceded Chief Constable Hugh Orde. "We had 26 successful people from the Catholic community and around 250 non-Catholics."

Constantine called on "all community leaders to take steps to remove all discouragements to members of their communities applying to join the police and make it a priority to encourage them to apply.

"The onus is on the British government to implement the Patten report in it's entirety so that the policing issue can be resolved," responded Kelly. "The responsibility is not on nationalists to fill the gaps but on the British to honour its commitments on policing made in the Good Friday Agreement. Nationalists will not participate in flawed policing arrangements."