Newry Armagh Sinn Féin Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Noel Sheridan speaks of policing in Armagh

Published: 10 October, 2008

It as seems that Chief Inspector Ken Mawhinney believes that the job of public representatives is to give praise when the job is done right, and to ignore incidents that are not, if this is the case then he is less capable than someone in his position should be.

It has been rightly pointed out that the behaviour of police in an incident in Keady was heavy handed to say the least and brought back memories of an era of policing which we all hoped was behind us. Given the carte blanche support he has given to officers without even saying that there will be a nominal enquiry into the use of pepper spray in a confined space smacks of all that was wrong with policing in the north for years.

Indeed there are policemen and policewomen who are doing a praiseworthy job but as in a garden, you don't ignore the weeds because there are roses. Policing must be for all the community and as such the actions of all police officers should be held up, examined and found to be above reproach. There can be no cover up of actions which do not enhance the reputation of policing, nor should such attempts to cover up be allowed to gag those who point out the faults which were ingrained in the RUC and past policing policies. These faults cannot be carried on into the PSNI by dinosaurs from the government sponsored paramilitary group which was the RUC.