Catholics ‘afraid to join North force’

INCREASING numbers of Catholics are refusing to join Northern Ireland’s police service because they fear being attacked, it was claimed yesterday.

As Chief Constable Hugh Orde faces new demands to halt a rising tide of crime draining public confidence in his force, a major assessment of police performance revealed the problems in achieving religious balance.

Even though the Policing Board’s annual report confirmed Catholic staffing levels in the staunchly Protestant service rose from 8.9% to 11.7%, survey results reveal why more of them will not come forward.

Fear of intimidation or attack on themselves or their relatives was cited as a deterrent by 72% of Catholics questioned in 2002 compared with 65% 12 months earlier.

Results from the Community Attitudes Poll carried out for the Policing Board do not take into account a campaign of death threats by dissident republican terrorists against nationalists involved in the new policing arrangements. The 2002-2003 report also demanded more action from the force to fight growing burglary and theft levels.

Professor Desmond Rea, chairman of the board, declared: “The clear message is they must do better.”

Police chiefs earned praise, however, for areas where performance was up on last year. Targets set for cutting the rate of increase in overall crime were easily met as the rise was slashed from 17% last year to just 2%.

Vehicle thefts also dropped by nearly 8% due to the work of the Police Service’s auto crime team.

Detection rates for violent crime rose from just over 13,000 to more than 15,500. Drug Squad officers also scored huge successes, with police seizing £11.1 million worth of narcotics compared with £6.5 million a year earlier.

The number of people charged with drug offences fell slightly.