Oireachtas Good Friday Committee Agree to Invite PSNI Chief Constable to Testify- Cllr Emmet Doyle
Aontú Cllr for Derry, Emmet Doyle, has welcomed the agreement by the Oireachtas Good Friday Committee to invite the Chief Constable of the PSNI to testify before the Committee, on foot of a request by Aontú Leader Peadar Tóibín TD.
Cllr Emmet Doyle: “It is very welcome development that the Oireachtas Good Friday Committee agreed to the Aontú proposal to invite the Chief Constable of the PSNI to testify on policing in the North. There is a real crisis in public confidence in policing in the North which has never gone away. There needs to comprehensive reviews of policing in the North by the PSNI as was done in South Armagh. I hope that the PSNI Chief will agree to testify, and so the issue of policing in the North can be examined in depth and in public.”
“I have been consistently highlighting the failure of the PSNI locally to engage in community policing and instead focus on the militaristic ‘security’ policing that has produced scenes of chaos in communities during police operations in recent months. Lately the PSNI commander refused my requests to appear before Derry and Strabane Council. Communities of all colour and creed have little confidence in the PSNI in our city – demonstrated their inability to address drug crime in the district, their focus on house searches and utilizing draconian stop and search legislation. Only recently, disturbing footage emerged of a PSNI officer restraining a man by the throat on the ground and punching him. That officer has remained on duty, despite extensive complaints and calls for an investigation. Things need to change
