‘We are in nobody’s pocket’
PSNI chief defends Storey funeral role
CHIEF Constable Simon Byrne is under pressure to explain what deal if any was brokered with Sinn Fein ahead of the funeral for veteran IRA man Bobby Storey in June.
Thousands lined the streets of west Belfast despite the lockdown during the first wave of coronavirus.
Among them were senior republican figures, whose attendance sparked a political crisis.
Writing in today’s Belfast Telegraph, Mr Byrne admitted the police response to funerals and protests during the pandemic has had “an impact on public confidence”.
In an interview with the BBC yesterday, the Chief Constable defended how the Storey funeral was handled.
Asked about what arrangements were put in place with the party, he dodged the question, saying it would be inappropriate to comment given the ongoing investigation.
Mr Byrne also said his officers did not attempt to intervene to disperse large crowds at the funeral for fear of “widespread violence and disorder”.
That suggestion was branded “ludicrous” by Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly.
Mr Kelly said: “People attended the funeral to pay their respects to a much-loved friend and colleague to support his grieving family at that difficult time. They did so with respect and dignity.”
Mr Byrne said the PSNI had not abdicated its responsibilities on the day.
“We are in nobody’s pocket, we do not collude with anybody, we just have to use discretion, which is at the heart of our policing style,” he added.
But unionists said he had serious questions to answer and the public was entitled to hear those answers.
DUP Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart said: “The Chief Constable has openly admitted that the threat of public violence and disorder dictated the policing response to the Storey funeral.
“It is humiliating that the enforcers of law and order in Northern Ireland should bow to such a threat.”
In today’s paper Mr Byrne writes that during the pandemic his officers had found themselves in “an uncomfortable position” of having to respond to emergency legislation that requires limiting people’s freedoms in a way he would never have envisaged as possible in all his years in the job.
“As a result there has often been an impact on public confidence; particularly as a result of some community perceptions around the police response, during different periods of the pandemic, at funerals, protests, sporting events or other gatherings. I understand how perceptions of tiered policing have evolved, as we wrestled with these unique new operational challenges,” he says.
“Different communities have, at different times, expressed their criticism, frustrations and, indeed, hurt, at how we responded to Covid-19.”
On the issue of legacy, Mr Byrne appealed to all those with a role to play in finding a resolution to dealing with the past to “redouble” their efforts.
“To continue as we are not only hampers what we want to achieve in the future; but threatens to damage the carefully built foundations that have been so selflessly built in the first 19 years of the PSNI,” he adds.
‘Discretion is at the heart of our policing style’