Stepping up to the mark

I am appalled by the spate of hoax security alerts across Londonderry and Belfast last Friday and I have absolutely no idea what the people responsible hope to achieve by disrupting the lives of ordinary decent people heading home or going about their daily business, at the end of a busy week. We don't know, from a phone call, whether these devices are hoax or real and we must take every incident seriously. We will always try to minimise disruption but road closures and delays, although annoying, are necessary to prevent injury or loss of life. Currently we are examining each incident in detail and where we can identify those responsible we will take appropriate action.

As I visited colleagues in Londonderry, Omagh, Armagh and Lurgan in recent days it is very clear that resolve of officers and staff to provide a personal, protective and professional Police Service, in some very challenging environments, is even more determined. This is despite very significant attempts to place police officers and members of the public in danger, as recently as last Saturday night in South Armagh.

The accounts of how local police officers are reaching out in very challenging circumstances to work together with local communities and partner agencies to make everyone safer and to address those issues which really matter is very encouraging. This relationship can only be further strengthened by the recent cross community vote for the devolvement of Policing and Justice.

My promise to you is that we will continue to work to deliver on the commitments we make to you and what I ask, in return, is that you continue to give your Police Service the community support that it needs and together we can deliver the future which we all want and not return to the past which has nothing to offer.