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PSNI can’t deal with hate crime, says newsreader Snow
Thursday, 18 June 2009
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The PSNI has been accused of delivering the worst service in the UK when dealing with hate crime and failing in its duty to protect foreign nationals living in Northern Ireland.
In a scathing attack on the way the police have handled the hate campaign against Romanian residents in south Belfast, Channel Four newsreader Jon Snow last night called on Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay to apologise for failings in the police response to the situation.
ACC Finlay appeared on yesterday’s Channel Four evening news to defend the PSNI but admitted there were delays in police attending reports of racist attacks and he also expressed his remorse that over 100 Romanian families have been forced to flee their homes in terror.
Speaking on the programme, he said: “If there are lessons to be learnt from this, we will learn those lessons of course. As I have said we are deeply sorry that it got to the situation where these residents found themselves out on the streets.
“Yes, of course we are sorry. We have said that but we didn’t commit the crime. People in the community committed the crime and we are pursuing those people with the help of the community.”
He was responding to criticisms levelled by Snow, who said: “What is a discredit to policing is you had five days of attacks and no apparent consistent presence. If this had occurred on mainland Britain there would have been a very much more considerable response.
“It sounds as if Northern Ireland policing is more tolerant of racist attacks than anywhere else in Britain.
“We have a situation here where we have got five days of racist attacks on Romanians and there is no persistent police activity maintained to try and protect these people. It really does seem as if the PSNI has learnt absolutely nothing from the murder of Stephen Lawrence, they know nothing about the Macpherson Rules or any of the recommendations. What is going on in Northern Ireland when it comes to racist attacks?”
ACC Finlay said: “Northern Ireland policing is certainly not more tolerant of racist crime or any other hate crime at all.
“I would refute that we have not learnt any lessons. Are we sorry about this? We are deeply sorry about this. We are deeply troubled about it.”
Meanwhile, Superintendent Chris Noble said patrols had been stepped up, security increased and specialist officers deployed to deal with the sickening racism that has reared its head on his south Belfast patch.
“From our perspective there is no ongoing threat to those premises. We have got a high profile patrol policing presence.
“I have a confidence in terms of the measures we have put in place, that we have visible policing in the area but everyone has a role to play in ensuring that every member of society, especially the most vulnerable are kept safe,” he said.
South Belfast MLA Anna Lo had launched a scathing attack on the PSNI’s actions. But at yesterday’s press conference in the Ozone Leisure Centre, the acting district commander denied allegations police had failed to respond to 999 calls from frightened Romanians.
He continued: “I want to reassure the general public about what we have done and how we have responded. As soon as we had reports of incidents we had emergency response to those scenes and began an investigation. Before this issue even hit the headlines I already had hate crime investigators appointed to deal with the victim issues, to try and identify what had happened and provide a high level quality of care. We have a dedicated neighbourhood community team in the area and patrols were stepped up over the weekend. Obviously our preference would have been to stop these attacks happening but the reality is at times, with a very small number of people who are doing these crimes spontaneously, we can’t always do that.”
The PSNI chief disputed claims that the violence had been orchestrated or facilitated by loyalist paramilitaries. After speaking to sources on the ground he said the “spontaneous” attacks had been carried out by a “number of young males” in the area.
“It wasn’t co-ordinated, it wasn’t orchestrated. That said, the impact on the victims will feel just as significant so, very cold comfort to them. Information is that there was no co-ordination and no authorisation from any other groups. It is a number of individuals who have taken umbrage for whatever reason to people living in their community and contributing to that community,” he continued.
Mr Noble said racism was a societal problem and echoed calls from politicians for the community to give up the thugs involved in intimidation.
“I think there is something at the very centre of this that reflects on Northern Ireland society itself and I think we have to address a societal issued that involved police, a whole raft of public and voluntary agencies as well. Police are not the only response to this albeit we do have a key role to play.
“We can always do more but I think it has got to come from the perspective of all the agencies pulling together to address this which is around prevention, reassurance, enforcement where necessary and it is also bringing in the community themselves.
“Let’s be honest, there are people out there who know who carried out these attacks, who attacked the protest. As yet very few of those individuals have come forward to give information.”
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35 Comments
Bit harsh - unless NI has millions more officers than the rest of the UK... perhaps if we were all a bit more helpful eh? I mean helping police instead of getting at them.
Posted by Karen Malin | 23.06.09, 19:20 GMT
mihe, if the vast majority of people in the village are decent and not racist why is something not sorted? I probably agree with your statement but the old quote about evil florishing if good men do nothing is true. If it is only a minority, and bound to be a known minority, in the area I am sure if the good people didnt just look out there windows and got organised the rubbish can be chased down the sewer where they belong. Community is an over-used word here but where is the spirit?
Posted by soarer | 19.06.09, 16:09 GMT
Ah listen to you all.!!!!Lets change the world blah blah.
Priests can excuse a murderer. 10 hail marys and a fiver in the tin. Thats the problem with society. Thats why we fight with our fellow human beings.
A giant explosion,probaly from an arms dump,will hit the earth and then , they think its all over, it will be then.
Posted by Disallusioned | 19.06.09, 15:52 GMT
When criminality is punished appropriately, people will feel it worthwhile to communicate with the PSNI. What is the point of an arrest, slap on the wrist and off home again? This only gives the perp. status among fellow numb-skulls, who then harass the victim. It's a catch 22.
Posted by Hope | 19.06.09, 08:23 GMT
The Romanians are white christians; they are the descendants of ancient Romans in Eastern Europe, just like the French or the Italians are in Western Europe. In Romania, we have normal families, normal homes, normal jobs, just like the English or the Irish do.
The Romani ethnic group migrated from India to Europe in the Middle Ages. Members of this group have been attacked not only in Western Europe (Northern Ireland), but also in Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania).
Posted by romanianboy | 18.06.09, 22:20 GMT
The PSNI are an absolute disgrace. For a supposed modern day policing force to sit back and watch while mindless thugs of Belfast continue to make many areas of the city no go zones for outsiders, due to their warped beliefs brought about by there apartheid like up bringing is a horrific shame. The only reason it continues to happen is because the PSNI tolerate it and the only way things will change is diversifying our ignorant politicians and inbred citizens.
Posted by Immigration is key | 18.06.09, 21:54 GMT
I can't work out who's worse - the disgruntled youths who broke a few windows or the likes of Jon Snow condeming the result and not the casue of the problem. Unbridled immigration and multi-culturalism are as much of a Utopian dream as the Communist state was. Can anyone tell me what benefit to the economy inviting Romanians into your community bring ? ..and would Mr Snow like them in HIS neighbourhood ?
Posted by RonW | 18.06.09, 21:12 GMT
To allow so many foreign nationals to come to the UK when local people are unemployed is madness. Tensions will grow as many foreign nationals are doing jobs that locals would do, not just jobs that local people will not do as the government would have you believe. These Romanians are not allowed to work here unless they have a work permit, so how are they earning money? I seem to recall that the southern government stopped Romanians at a roundabout and persuaded them to return to Romania.
Posted by Big John | 18.06.09, 21:00 GMT
Thanks Edward, but I can assure you I had the car serviced a few months ago, I remember as it cost me €500 and an oil change was included in the price.
I also see that you mean that the PSNI, the sneaky technologically gifted wizards, put a camera in each of the houses affected and will soon release grainy CCTV images of those responsible to the media and as Mihe points out their law abiding neighbours will surely shop them.
So surely the Romanians will safely move back to their houses then?!?
Posted by Bren | 18.06.09, 17:26 GMT
Well said Angry,are these not the same people who are obstructing the footpaths and annoying people with their begging,Its not safe to walk in parts of town as you stand the risk of falling over women sitting on the ground with babies on their knees.Not so long ago we had reports of these people being dropped off in Belfast from top of the range cars. They are some of the best dressed beggers around, next time take a look at their footwear.I work every day and they seem to be better of than me.
Posted by Hard Working | 18.06.09, 16:51 GMT
Bren, you ask: "Left anything out?". Yes you did, you left out the fact that you are in need of an oil change. The old RUC was an arm of the Unionist Party and an embarrassment to N. Ireland in the view of the rest of Britain.
Secondly, is the PSNI familiar with the concept of gathering intelligence and preventing these things from happening, not re-acting after the crime is committed? We need arrests and long prison terms for these morons!
Posted by Edward | 18.06.09, 16:14 GMT
The people from the Village area helped these Romainians, there are plenty of eastern europeans living in the village happily working away in belfast. the vast majority of people in the village are decent.
Posted by Mihe | 18.06.09, 15:29 GMT
Ok as an outsider the reading of your comments has informed me as follows:
A significant number, but not all of the people of the Village area of Belfast are extremely and violently racist (and also probably hate the LGBT community). This is without dispute being organised by (probably three) Loyalist paramilitaries. The PSNI handling of the situation is useless, the old RUC would have done better as long as the victims weren't Catholic, but Sinn Fein / Patton ruined them.
Left anything out?
Posted by Bren | 18.06.09, 13:39 GMT
Film buff charlie - you are so sadly off target its not funny. If its up to unionist communities to sort out problem that happen in unionist areas then you're saying that its up to republican communities to sort out what happens in republican areas? Get real. What about the person living in a unionist neighbourhood who has nationalist aspirations? Or vice versa? Those people do exist. So are they exempt from dealing with issues in their neighbourhood?
Posted by colin | 18.06.09, 13:28 GMT
FILM buff charlie (below), good to see you have so much knowledge of the perpetrators. Any chance that you could pass on your intensive knowledge to the PSNI or are you too occupied mixing racism with your own sectarian perception? Perhaps you could put 'racist attack' and 'Dublin' into a Search Engine and read the results? You will find that such dreadful actions are not exclusive to any religion on this island. This case is just publicised more.
Posted by Bemused | 18.06.09, 13:28 GMT
Same old bigoted loyalists,but a different target this time as they realise they cant get away with targeting Catholics all the time, although the sad events in Coleraine recently show they still do that when they get a chance. The sad thing is that throughout Europe this is being reported as Irish racists. These vermin proclaim their loyalty to the crown and are forever proclaiming their Britishness, somehow I think the vast majority of people in Britain want nothing to do with these vile pigs
Posted by paul | 18.06.09, 13:06 GMT
To everyone suggesting the PSNI are over stretched, hobbled etc, well there was no shortage of bodies to police the Lisburn Half Marathon yesterday. Might have been better if a few of them were policing the Village instead of standing round directing traffic?
It's about their priorities....
Posted by Farrah | 18.06.09, 12:52 GMT
Lets face it the PSNI are unable to tackle even home and domestic crimes, last year our home was burglared fortunately the perpetrators didn't harm my little dog or damage my home but took jewellery and personal items which cannot be replaced, it took the police over an hour to respond and the attitude was even if they arrested anyone they would get a slap on the wrist from a magistrate and the police would be left with mountains of paperwork - so much for british policing.
Posted by I Mccrory | 18.06.09, 11:18 GMT
While everyone's fighting and arguing over who's fault it is, the Romas are being put up, fed, and now rehoused (probably in bigger better houses) all using moneys from the public purse - monies that could be better used somewhere else. Let me finish in saying that on last nights (Weds ) 6pm news the Romas were smiling getting into the Private Hire buses there to pick them up to take them onto the next rung of the housing ladder.... Don't believe me...? Watch the re-runs on the internet.
Angry
Posted by AnGrY | 18.06.09, 11:15 GMT
If the PSNI is overworked and understaffed, why not get those nice folk who carry out their own form of policing in parts of West Belfast to "suit up" and engage this handful of idiots from the Village?
Posted by mi-ck-ey | 18.06.09, 11:04 GMT
35 Comments