Army helping PSNI to fight dissidents, says Orde

The North's police force has called in specialist support from MI5 and the military to help deal with the growing threat from dissident Republican terrorists, chief constable Hugh Orde said today.

Orde told the Northern Ireland Policing Board yesterday that the potential for a serious attack was higher than at any time since he joined the force seven years ago.

He said today that the specialists he has called in have increased his "technical capacity" to police the North, but have no operational role.

He insisted there was no plan to reintroduce military support for the normal policing work of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

The chief constable denied keeping secrets from the policing board and said he had stuck to the rules of accountability laid out in the 2006 St Andrews Agreement between the governments of Ireland and the UK and Northern Ireland's political parties.

Orde told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I have been absolutely consistent for the last seven to nine months in saying that the threat is increasing. It is very specific - the dissident Republican terrorists, so-called, are determined to murder a police officer in their misguided efforts.

"We have had over 15 attacks since November last year, from shootings to car booby trap bombs, landmines to the large 250 pound-plus car bomb only last month."

Asked if British Army special forces were now in the North gathering intelligence on dissident Republicans, Orde said: "I lead on the policing operations carried out by my police service. We are supported by a very small number of specialists from the Army.

"That, of course, includes bomb disposal experts who have successfully defused every single bomb these criminals have tried to plant in the last 15 months.

"MI5 lead on intelligence-gathering nationally now, and what I have asked for is no different from what any other chief constable would ask for facing the current terrorist situation here.

"We are talking about a very small number of people who increase my technical capacity. They have no operational role. They support my policing operations, which are undertaken by my police officers.

"So in terms of democratic mechanisms and accountability, we have stuck absolutely to all of those which were put in place by the St Andrews Agreement."

Orde was asked whether he should have kept the policing board informed about his requests for support from MI5 and the Army.

He responded: "We certainly do not keep anything secret from the policing board, but I am held to account for policing operations and that is a strategic issue. Operational matters remain my sole responsibility.

"I have a very good relationship with the board. These are support mechanisms, they are not operational deployments."

Orde declined to give details of the work being undertaken by the specialists, saying only that "it would be right to say that this increases my technical capacity".

He added: "What we are talking about here is maximising our resource to deal with a small number of extremely dangerous people who are determined to wreck everything that has been achieved in Northern Ireland and I will absolutely do my best to deal with that.

"One of the huge successes in Northern Ireland... is the complete lack of military support now for normal policing. My officers police without any military support. That is a step-change that happened over two years ago.

"I have got no intention whatsoever of going back to any routine military support. That having been said, we must make sure that we keep our communities safe and I will do everything in my power to do that and protect my officers."