Officers putting life and limb on the line to keep the peace in Northern Ireland must not be treated as “cannon fodder” – and should be properly paid, adequately resourced and have the full backing of politicians, the Chairman of the Federation in the province has said. In painting a sobering picture of the status quo, Terry Spence maintained that more than 400 colleagues had been injured in the past year while dealing with disorder. He also asserted that progress towards peace in Northern Ireland had “not progressed as much as we would like to pretend” since the Belfast Agreement of 15 years ago – and that there had been a “creeping resumption of the so called armed struggle”. Mr Spence (pictured), who was addressing colleagues at the Police Federation for Northern Ireland conference in Belfast, was speaking as thousands of mutual aid officers from the mainland UK were preparing to deploy to the province for the G8 Summit. The constables, from England, Wales and Scotland, have received training in public order tactics used by colleagues in Northern Ireland in preparation for the event at County Fermanagh in mid-June, which will host world leaders including US President Barack Obama. But during his address, Mr Spence said he was dismayed that officer numbers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) had been allowed to drop to below 7,000 while the terrorist threat remained Severe. He maintained that 1,000 extra officers were immediately needed “as the bare minimum requirement” to bolster the ranks of PSNI – although he welcomed the recent announcement by Chief Constable Matt Baggott that a recruitment process would soon be underway. M Spence added: “It has been nothing more than a case of looking at our political and security situation over the past decade through rose-tinted spectacles. This has left the police with insufficient resources to eliminate the threat from dissident Republicans and loyalist paramilitaries." Asserting that officers in the force had the most demanding policing job in Western Europe, he pointed out: “Since January we have had 16 shooting incidents and 33 bombing incidents. “Worryingly, we are seeing a growing number of young people being arrested on terrorist charges – young people who would hardly have been old enough to be at school during the Troubles. “After 15 years, this Severe threat should have been consigned to the history books." During his address, Mr Spence also asserted that the remuneration package for officers had "changed for the worse”, with alternations to pensions arrangements and a pay freeze over the last two years. In addition, he said that senior PSNI officers needed to fully acknowledge the severity of the injuries being suffered by constables during disorder – with broken and dislocated bones and post traumatic stress disorder leading to periods of long-term sick leave. Mr Spence was applauded as he told conference delegates: “We are not cannon fodder.” “The response to violence has to come from our politicians in their unequivocal condemnation, from the courts in a determination to punish severely and from a Police Service adequately resourced in numbers, equipment, vehicles and technology. “Truly a career in policing in Northern Ireland, more than anywhere else in Europe, requires 24-hour alertness for self protection. We must never let our guard drop if we do not want ourselves or a family member to become a victim of a cowardly attack.”
Posted on: Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:38:36 +0000
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