Police report – Catholic fears cannot be dismissed

THE report claiming two-thirds of Catholics are afraid to join Northern Ireland’s new police force for fear of being attacked is alarming.

It smacks of hypocrisy on the part of Sinn Féin to attempt to discredit the findings of this revealing study. It is disingenuous of party leader Gerry Adams to undermine the survey’s credibility by likening it to a report from the IRA.

Mr Adams is right when he says the RUC was often an instrument of repression in nationalist communities. But his party’s boycott of the PSNI is partly to blame for dissuading Catholics from joining the new-look police service which aims to attract members from across the religious divide.