People died because of bad policing in the Troubles, admits PSNI chief

CHIEF Constable George Hamilton has said people died as a result of bad policing during the Troubles.

He made the comments at an event focused on legacy issues in Northern Ireland at Queen’s University.

It covered topics which ranged from the use of the term collusion, ongoing changes to policing, and past failures in policing.

Mr Hamilton said numerous recent reviews of policing issues told us “policing in the past was not always as it should have been”.

Appraisal: George Hamilton

“The problem was much bigger and more complex than the ‘few bad apples’ analogy that has been articulated previously,” he said. “In the absence of any regulatory framework for managing ‘agents’, police officers were left to set their own standards, they were unaccountable to the law because there was no law.

“They were unaccountable to their fellow citizens. Policing was being done in a vacuum that allowed unregulated practice.

“Honest individuals were placed in impossible situations, having to choose between bad and worse.

“Many people lived; but some people also died as a result of that practice.”

He went on to add that there should be “no hiding place for anyone who broke the law or acted with criminal intent — be they police officer or paramilitary”.

However, the chief constable said there is a “significant difference” between investigating police actions in the past, and the actions of paramilitaries, namely that “police kept records”.

Mr Hamilton also talked about the term “collusion”, saying it “has no agreed definition”, and is damaging policing.

“Not just policing in the past but policing in the present day. And if we are not careful, it will damage policing in the future,” he said.

Mr Hamilton welcomed the publication of the consulta- tion on addressing the legacy of Northern Ireland’s past, which was came out last week.

In his conclusion, he added: “Further progress on dealing with the past will require political leadership and financial investment. I hope that we will see both materialise in the near future.”

Yesterday’s event at Queen’s was held by the Victims & Dealing with the Past project, funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council.

Also speaking at the event were Dr Michael Maguire, Northern Ireland’s Police Ombudsman, and former Director of Public Prosecutions Barra McGrory.