‘Quiet Man’ who was behind the arrest of Gerry Adams
DREW Harris’s name is one that commands respect in policing circles in Northern Ireland. He is known by colleagues as the ‘quiet man’ of PSNI management.
In 2014, Mr Harris, a veteran of 34 years in policing, approved the arrest of former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams over the 1972 murder of Jean McConville – ensuring we can reasonably anticipate a frosty relationship between the new Garda commissioner and Sinn Féin in the immediate future.
Indeed, his appointment as PSNI Deputy Chief Constable in 2014 prompted a serious clash with Sinn Féin. The party’s Caitríona Ruane withdrew from the Northern Ireland Policing Board selection panel before the interviews were completed, suggesting ‘the process may have been compromised’.
Mr Harris has an impressive CV. Ahead of his appointment as Deputy Chief Constable, he held a number of operational commands. Intelligence gathering on terrorists, most notably the IRA, became his forte and his reputation is that of a ‘behind the scenes’ intelligence-gatherer, sources say.
He also spent a two-year secondment with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland and undertook numerous academic courses – now seen as a prerequisite for police officers serious about rising to the top echelons.
He studied Strategic Command, Leadership in International Counter-Terrorism and the FBI National Executive Institute programme for senior law enforcement officers.
Mr Harris also has a degree in politics and economics and a masters in criminology. His ‘quiet man’ reputation is at odds with his two most recent predecessors. Former commissioner Martin Callinan and Nóirín O’Sullivan both left the post in a blaze of controversy.
He is particularly well known for one tragic life event, which no doubt shaped his entire policing life. His father, RUC Superintendent Alwyn Harris, was killed by the IRA in 1989.
A Semtex bomb exploded under his car as he was on his way to church with his wife, who survived the attack. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the ‘quiet man’ of Northern Ireland policing took the fight to the IRA and was known as a very effective backroom operator – who had a working relationship with MI5.
Sinéad McSweeney, a former senior media official in the PSNI and then the Garda Síochána, has said he was a man to reach out over the sectarian divide. ‘He isn’t just a fabulous police officer, but one of the most decent human beings I worked with in Northern Ireland.’