Security in Northern Ireland

Hey guys!

It has been a very eventful past week, and I’m very excited to share all the details with you soon. However, the Easter Rising post will take some time to be released, as it will be richly detailed, so today I’m going to give you a short history on Northern Ireland’s security services, and how they’ve changed since The Troubles. 

I’ve heard the locals describe the Police Service of Northern Ireland (P.S.N.I) in a variety of ways: “a colonial occupation force”, “a specialized service”, “defenders of the Orange regime”. All that is certain is that the P.S.N.I aren’t your average bobbies on the beat.

P.S.N.I Land Rovers in a Republican Neighbourhood

Now I can’t speak for everyone, but from what I’ve personally seen, the P.S.N.I seem to be an extremely professional group of people. I’ve attended parades by both Republicans and Unionists, and the P.S.N.I has been present at both. To me it seems as if they are a very neutral force. During the St. Patrick’s Day unrest they were very efficient and were quick to act, preventing the unrest from developing into anything worse. I’ve heard accusations that the P.S.N.I are slow to respond to actual crimes (P.S.N.I officers have been lead into Republican ambushes by fake emergency calls before, so I can understand their caution), and that they won’t go into Catholic areas for fear of starting riots, but based on what I’ve seen they do seem to be trying to do their best to act as a neutral force that helps both communities.

P.S.N.I at St. Patrick's Day Unrest

The origins of the modern P.S.N.I are in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (R.U.C), the predecessor of Northern Ireland’s modern police service and a group that worked side by side with the British Army during the bloody fighting in Northern Ireland during the 20^th Century. The Royal Ulster Constabulary began its life as a small, local police service, responsible only for Northern Ireland after Ireland was partitioned in 1921. Until 1970 the R.U.C never exceeded 3,500 members, however, as fighting intensified in the mid-1970s recruitment was ramped up, and by 2001 the R.U.C had around 8,500 officers. The R.U.C was always a mainly Protestant force, with only around 7-8% of members coming from the Catholic community. Because of this the R.U.C was always viewed with suspicion by the Catholics, and allegations of corruption were common. Even now many Catholics are convinced that the R.U.C worked with Protestant paramilitaries and even Robert, the Sinn Fein community worker I interviewed, told me that he was certain that the R.U.C colluded with the U.D.A and U.V.F.

Armed R.U.C Officer During The Troubles (Photo Credits to TheJournal.IE)

This is the legacy that the new P.S.N.I has inherited. Many people I’ve talked to have told me that there hasn’t been any substantial changes in the structure of the P.S.N.I when you compare it to the R.U.C. Robert even told me that the leadership of the P.S.N.I is made up of old members of the R.U.C's special branch, which he believes was responsible for state sponsored killings during The Troubles. While I can't speak for the truth of the accusation; it is true that the P.S.N.I was born out of the R.U.C in 2001, when the R.U.C was officially renamed the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and changed its emblem to something that better represented both Unionists and Republicans. A simple name change wasn’t enough, and the former R.U.C was reformed in two major acts passed by the British government, the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000, and the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2003. The acts made some remarkable changes to the way policing is done in Northern Ireland, so much so that because of these acts Sinn Fein has officially come out and supported the P.S.N.I as a legitimate police force which was something difficult to imagine during the days of the R.U.C. You can read the acts by clicking the links above.

Central Belfast P.S.N.I Station

One of the most important, and controversial, policies implemented during this reformation period was the “50-50” recruitment policy. 50-50, a system of affirmative action which meant that an equal number of Protestants and Catholics had to be hired, was supposed to show the world that the P.S.N.I was committed to impartiality and professionalism. However, 50-50 proved to be unpopular among Northern Ireland’s Protestants, who feel like they were being discriminated against by the P.S.N.I’s recruitment office. While it has been successful in bringing more Catholics into the police, its unpopularity proved to be its downfall and in 2011 the policy was discontinued. Catholics now make up about 30% of the P.S.N.I, but only around 17% of new recruits are Catholic, leaving many to wonder if Republican Paramilitaries are still intimidating Catholics into staying away from law enforcement. Catholic officers do seem to be targeted by dissident Republicans, who see them as traitors, and several have been killed in terrorist attacks in recent years.

P.S.N.I Officers at Orange Parade in North Belfast

While they might still ride around in their armoured land rovers, and work in walled police stations that remind onlookers of places like Fort Knox or Windsor Castle, the P.S.N.I has definitely changed since their heyday during The Troubles. Northern Ireland is still a dangerous place for a policeman, and the police are certainly stuck between a rock and a hard place. There are vocal critics of them in both communities, and they have to deal with not only crime and terrorism, but also significant budget cuts which are most certainly hampering their efforts to make the streets of Northern Ireland safer for everyone. However, it will take time for them to reconcile themselves with the Catholic community, and probably even longer before they can become “normalized” police service, as opposed to the heavily armed outfit that they have been since The Troubles erupted in 1969. 

Until next time

-Luke van Reede van Oudtshoorn