Policeman speaks: 'Paramilitaries rule Belfast now'

Policeman speaks: 'Paramilitaries rule Belfast now'

15 September 2005

"It pains me to say this as an Ulsterman who has sworn to protect the citizens of this country, no matter what their creed or persuasion, but the police no longer rule Belfast, the paramilitaries do."

I am currently a member of the PSNI's Tactical Support Group. Great name, that. Some people still call us MSU, or "rapid response".

You see us in Land Rovers, patrolling the streets of Belfast and beyond, every night of the week.

And you saw us at the weekend - getting pelted by bricks, bombs and bullets during some of the most vicious rioting that this country has witnessed in years.

The saddest thing about those incidents was how predictable, how inevitable they were.

It was like two teams preparing for a football match that would kick off at 3pm on a Saturday. And "kick off" it certainly did.

The "other team," as our Chief Constable pointed out, had been preparing all week for the violence - and so had we.

The dogs in the street knew what was going to happen. There was even a starting time, for heavens' sake!

But, unlike a football match, this was not something the "players" on our side were looking forward to.

We were going to take the brunt of it, after all.

We were going to get it in the neck. And in the head, in the legs, arms and torsos. No rest for the wicked. No sleep until it would all be over. The only beds we, the members of Her Majesty's government's forces of law and order, were going to end up in last weekend were hospital ones.

The Chief Constable called us "heroes" on Sunday. Too bloody right we were.

We have been heroes for months. Or else plain stupid - to set ourselves up as the punchbags for extremists on both sides of the community.

You don't get the concessions you want? Attack the police. Take your frustrations out on us. We're easy targets.

Unfortunately, we have been turned into easy targets by government policy.

We are the piggies - or rather 'The Pigs' - in the middle of all this madness.

Someone said to me the other day: "All you lot ever do is sit around in Land Rovers, read papers and eat chips."

And you know, he was right. That's exactly what we've been doing. Reading papers and eating chips.

But, believe it or not, we used to be policemen, dedicated to upholding law and order and bringing the criminals who blight our country to justice. Not any more.

I had to laugh when I read a newspaper billboard that said: "PSNI: what are their public order tactics?"

Well, there's a simple answer to that question ? we don't have any.

Don't get me wrong; we used to have them. That's why we have public order training three to four times a year. Waste of time now. We no longer get the opportunity to do the job we have been trained for.

Crowd dispersal? Forget it. Proactive policing? Now, there's a laugh. Arrests? Remind me what those are.

No, what we've been doing for the past few months is monitoring people. All day long. All night long. One of these days you'll see a headline in one of the papers: "Man monitored to death by the PSNI."

That's what we were doing at the Garnerville estate in late July. Monitoring people.

The rest of you were baffled by this ? wanton intimidation by balaclava-ed thugs - in a so-called modern British city - taking place right in front of the country's law enforcement officers, who just sat there in their vehicles.

Believe me, we were baffled too. We knew what this would look like in the eyes of the world. But we were professional, highly-trained policemen following orders from above. And the order was: do nothing.

We have a new job now. We are sponges. We soak up the all the hatred, all the abuse, all the frustrations of the communities in north and west Belfast. Verbal and physical.

We're allowed to defend ourselves, of course - and we certainly had to do that at the weekend.

"Heavy handed tactics?" How about an alternative suggestion: "ordinary, law-abiding human beings trying to stay alive."

It was always going to come to this. In many ways we were inviting it - or, rather, the Government was, on our behalf.

You don't believe me? I could show you e-mails "from above" warning us not to arrest people who give us "the fingers" or who throw missiles at our vehicle as we go past.

The tactics? Do nothing. Let them throw their missiles. Let them hurl abuse.

Let them show complete contempt for the forces of law and order in this country - and let them get away with it.

And when they get away with "the fingers," they then realise they can throw bricks at us without any fear of arrest.

And when they get away with that, they get even more adventurous. How about a blast bomb, or a petrol bomb?

The Parades Commission ruling on the Whiterock march provided the latest excuse, not that the paramilitaries need one.

And all the time we're warned not to do anything that might in some way "inflame" the situation - or, heaven forbid, upset those paramilitaries.

Those horrific scenes at Ardoyne on the Twelfth night? Containment. Twenty officers injured ? containment. Then 30. Containment. Do the commanders in the "silver room" and "gold room" not realise that "containing" a riot will not actually stop it?

By this time we're heading towards 50 officers injured. Blast bombs being used by the rioters now. They're encouraged by our lack of pro-activity.

Persistent requests to HQ for the green light to use baton rounds. Denied. Denied. Denied. Contain. Monitor. Bloody monitor...

Finally, the baton rounds order is given. By that time, over 100 of our men are on their way to hospital, some of them very seriously injured.

The weekend brought deja vu. Different paramilitaries involved and a different issue to be handled - but the bricks and bombs looked the same to me.

Do I sound bitter? Demoralised? Disillusioned? Depressed? You bet I do. And so do so many of my colleagues.

We are being treated like dirt by people who have a duty of care to protect us. They're not doing it.

The Police Federation? Decent bunch of guys, them. Say all the right things. Toothless tigers, though. They can talk all day, but they won't change anything. We go on being sponges.

It pains me to say this as an Ulsterman who has sworn to protect the citizens of this country, no matter what their creed or persuasion, but the police no longer rule Belfast. The paramilitaries do.

Our government has made totally unacceptable concessions to these thugs and gangsters - and now it's they who decide who lays down the law on the streets not us. It's frustrating. It's infuriating. It's unethical and immoral.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that the PSNI should suddenly be given carte blanche to beat the living daylights out of anybody who lifts a brick or hurls a blast bomb. We are not above the law.

We have no plans to go from one extreme to the other; to move from a "do nothing" policy to a jackboot one.

But something approaching the middle ground - ie, being allowed to do what we've been trained to do, and keeping anarchy and violence off the streets of Northern Ireland - would be nice.

One of these days something terrible could happen. A trapped policeman in a fierce riot situation, where "containment" is no longer an option and his life is clearly in danger ? opening fire could well be the only avenue open.

If it happened to me, I would have no hesitation in taking that option to protect myself and my colleagues. Morally, and legally, I believe I would have no choice.

And yes, I'd get wrapped up in red tape and paperwork for months, cause a political scandal, start rumours of a PSNI "shoot to kill" policy and - here comes the bitter irony of it all - probably get arrested and have my weapon and badge removed.

Well, at least that would be a rare example of the police here being proactive.

Yes, it might even be funny if it wasn't all so deadly serious.

I just want the people of Belfast in particular, and the citizens of Northern Ireland in general, to realise, and try to understand, what we're going through at the moment ? and how totally fed up with it we are.

Mr Tony Blair, Mr Peter Hain ? this is the impossible situation you have put us in. The impossible situation you have put this country in.

My message to you gentlemen - before it's too late and before an utterly intolerable situation becomes irreversible - is this: We are the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

We are here to uphold and enforce law and order in this country of ours.

Please let us get on with it.