Policing bodies vow to defy threats

COMMUNITY policing bodies in Northern Ireland will forge ahead with their work, despite members receiving death threats from dissident republicans, it was claimed yesterday.

Cross-community Policing Board chairman Professor Desmond Rea attacked those responsible for issuing a threat against the life of Fermanagh’s District Policing Partnership (DPP) member Cathal O’Dolan.

The Catholic civil servant and part-time farmer from Belcoo stepped down after a threat from the Real IRA.

In a statement, Mr O’Dolan said he had no alternative but to resign.

Fermanagh DPP chairman and Ulster Unionist councillor Tom Elliot said: “It’s absolutely deplorable that Cathal O’Dolan has had to resign in this way and it’s deplorable that people still want to live in the past and rule by fear and intimidation and threats.

“We have to ask: What have these type of people to offer our society? Do they want to rule this province like Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden?”

Mr Elliot said the threat, purporting to be from the Real IRA, was telephoned to a local newspaper office earlier this week.

“Mr O’Dolan has a lot to offer society and he was a great contributor to the local DPP,” Mr Elliot said.

District Policing Partnerships were established in council areas across Northern Ireland in a bid to foster better relations between police and the local communities.

Prof Rea said the bodies would continue with their work, despite a number of other threats being issued by dissident republicans. The death threat against Mr O’Dolan is the latest incident in a campaign by dissident republicans against the new policing structures in Northern Ireland.

Bullets were sent to the Derry home of Denis Bradley, the deputy chairman of Northern Ireland’s Policing Board, in August.

Police believe dissident republicans were behind that threat and linked it with a similar package sent to the home of Marion Quinn, a member of the District Policing Partnership in the city.

District Policing Partnerships were set up across Northern Ireland as part of reforms initiated by former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten.

Councillors and members of the local community sit on the boards and work alongside the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s 29 District Command Units in an attempt to meet local community policing needs.

Sinn Féin has boycotted the new structures, insisting the British Government’s policing reforms need to go further if they are to participate.

SDLP spokesman Alex Attwood condemned the threat and said Mr O’Dolan’s decision to step down was “understandable”.

“There are over 500 members of the District Policing Partnerships, over 1,000 new recruits, and 19 members of the Policing Board. This is clear evidence of the fact that people want to work together to ensure the new beginning to policing”, Mr Attwood said.

“A small faction of dissidents will not undo the policing opportunities that have been created.”

Sinn Féin MP Michelle Gildernew insisted dissident republicans would not achieve any changes to policing arrangements through threats.

The Fermanagh and South Tyrone representative said there could be no justification for their existence.

She said: “Sinn Féin have consistently called on these micro groups to stop, to disband. They have nothing to offer. They have no strategy for Irish reunification.”