Gerry Adams: concerns over policing
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said republicans and nationalists still had a number of concerns about policing.
Speaking after a meeting of his party’s Belfast executive, Mr Adams said they had structural, symbolic and operational concerns about the reforms and were especially worried about the issue of police accountability.
He argued: ‘‘A genuine new policing dispensation has to be in common ownership of all sections of the people. The name of the service, its badge, flag and emblem are all part of that.
‘‘In respect of repression, the future of Special Branch and its support units is key to the future of policing. So too is the highly militaristic paramilitary structure and ethos of the wider RUC force.
‘‘The repressive legislation which has been the backbone of the RUC remains in place. As does, for example, their willingness to use plastic bullets. This must change.
‘‘One of the biggest battles with the British Government on policing is around accountability.
The vast majority of the points where the British Government departs from the Patten recommendations is around this issue.
"‘To ensure that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past the balance of power, the question of accountability, which in the Policing Act currently favours the British Secretary of State and the RUC Chief Constable, must tilt significantly toward the Policing Board.
"The new Policing Board, along with the District Partnership Boards, the Oversight Commissioner and the Ombudsman are all parts of the interlocking accountability mechanisms that are essential and which must be empowered to provide the guarantee of a new beginning and a new future for policing.’’
The onus was now on British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Government to bring the reforms ‘‘back into line with Patten’’ by amending its legislation, the West Belfast MP said.
Mr Adams called for the retrospective powers of inquiry for the Ombudsman and powers of inquiry of the Police Board to mirror those in Patten.
He also demanded full independent public judicial inquiries into the killings of Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill, solicitors Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson and victims of alleged collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces.
