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03/03/2003
Chief Constable stresses commitment to Patten principles
In an address to the SDLP annual conference in Belfast at the weekend, the Chief Constable has reiterated his commitment to the implementation of the Patten report and 50/50 recruitment.
Mr Orde also spoke of the difficulties involved in police reinvestigating some of the 2,700 unsolved crimes stretching back to 1969.
He said the police constantly received calls to re-open old investigations, which in turn had a "knock-on impact" on the ability of detectives to deal with current crimes.
“I know as an investigator that to investigate a crime that is 30 years old is very difficult, and it is unlikely to gain the evidential standards that will secure any form of criminal conviction,” Mr Orde told the SDLP party members.
“What does happen is that a lot of police resources are tied up doing their best to find that evidence, to seek it out and pursue any suspects that may still be around,” he added.
Mr Orde explained that if police were able to arrest, interview and charge someone with an offence, it would be unlikely a fair trial could be secured because of the time delay in bringing forward a prosecution.
“The whole thing gets tied up in a legal game and doesn’t tend to bring closure," he said.
During an open question and answer session, the Chief Constable said his primary concern lay in protecting people who were alive and agreeing an effective police service for the future.
And he stressed the vital role of Special Branch within the PSNI in gathering intelligence.
He said that the combined efforts of the police saw 34 people arrested during the loyalist feud – 17 people being charged.
"Special Branch played a significant role in bringing that about,” Mr Orde said.
(GMcG)
Mr Orde also spoke of the difficulties involved in police reinvestigating some of the 2,700 unsolved crimes stretching back to 1969.
He said the police constantly received calls to re-open old investigations, which in turn had a "knock-on impact" on the ability of detectives to deal with current crimes.
“I know as an investigator that to investigate a crime that is 30 years old is very difficult, and it is unlikely to gain the evidential standards that will secure any form of criminal conviction,” Mr Orde told the SDLP party members.
“What does happen is that a lot of police resources are tied up doing their best to find that evidence, to seek it out and pursue any suspects that may still be around,” he added.
Mr Orde explained that if police were able to arrest, interview and charge someone with an offence, it would be unlikely a fair trial could be secured because of the time delay in bringing forward a prosecution.
“The whole thing gets tied up in a legal game and doesn’t tend to bring closure," he said.
During an open question and answer session, the Chief Constable said his primary concern lay in protecting people who were alive and agreeing an effective police service for the future.
And he stressed the vital role of Special Branch within the PSNI in gathering intelligence.
He said that the combined efforts of the police saw 34 people arrested during the loyalist feud – 17 people being charged.
"Special Branch played a significant role in bringing that about,” Mr Orde said.
(GMcG)
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