Terrorist threat is changing but PSNI can deal with it, says Byrne
NORTHERN Ireland’s top police officer says the terrorist threat here is sophisticated and changing.
PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne was speaking yesterday after detectives investigating the discovery of a mortar bomb pointed at a police station arrested a 33-year-old man, and a further suspicious device was found in subsequent searches linked to the incident.
An improvised explosive device (IED) was positioned close to a family home in Strabane, Co Tyrone on Saturday.
Mr Byrne hailed the work and courage of his officers, who he said worked without thought for their own safety, but for the safety of the residents living near where the bomb was found.
Speaking in Londonderry, Mr Byrne admitted he was concerned by the recent upsurge in dissident republican-linked vi
olence, and spent time with officers who were attacked during searches in the Creggan area of the city where another bomb was found on Monday.
“I am worried. Over the last few months I’ve dealt with more potential threats to kill my officers since I’ve been here than my predecessor dealt with in a whole year,” Mr Byrne said.
“We’ve seen changing types of engineering and capability that show determination and motivation clearly aimed at killing and maiming officers but also indiscriminate: in any one of these situations potentially a member of the public could have been killed.
“The device we recovered here (in Derry) was a potentially dangerous device and I have little doubt had it detonated anyone nearby would have been killed or seriously injured from the way it was put together.
“It was complex and it was sophisticated and the threat is clearly changing.
“Frankly I’m only in front of you today not with an awful tragedy or explaining loss of life simply because of lady luck.”
Mr Byrne refused to be drawn on who was behind the building and planting of the devices, but said that knowledge of explosive-making may be coming from those who had been involved in terrorist activity previously.
“The expertise is coming perhaps from the past, and the internet is buzzing with details on how to make explosive devices and we’re working with detectives to see how best we can thwart that crime,” he said.
“I’m not going to put labels on particular associations, keep an open mind, people who have built devices in the past will share the knowledge, but equally we know how information goes from other theatres of conflict onto the internet.”
Mr Byrne has reiterated his call for more police officers in order to reach out to communities across NI, as he said the current model of relying on officer overtime is an unhealthy way of managing a police force.
“I’ve had discussions with important stakeholders, the Secretary of State is clear on my plea,” he added.
“We need to grow the PSNI to a figure of 7,500 officers to continue the fight against paramilitaries. I’m not saying we can’t cope, but we can’t carry on this way indefinitely.”