Paying the price for political decision to sacrifice Full Time Reserve
01 April 2011
Statement by Alex Elliott TUV Fermanagh & South Tyrone:
Following a phone call from a resident in the Rosslea area, TUV’s Fermanagh & South Tyrone Candidate Alex Elliott had to phone Enniskillen PSNI to alert them of the public being in danger in the area of the suspect device at Dresternan, Rosslea. The caller informed Alex Elliott that local people were ignoring the ‘Road Closed’ signs and were driving up and down the road past the device. Some even had stopped and taken photographs of the device in situ.
Alex Elliott commented, “While I appreciate that PSNI have to plan regarding dealing with such situations; a ‘Road Closed’ sign is no alternative to any officer directing the public away from the danger. It is quite obvious that PSNI are below strength and have a distinct lack of expertise and capability in combating the republican threat within the County. I recently pointed this out to the Chief Constable that Fermanagh has been flooded with inexperienced recruits straight out of training who had little or no knowledge in this field of work.
I have previously called for Tactical Support Officers to be trained to a higher level of counter terrorism instead of being used to bolster the number of fixed penalty tickets issued within the County.
According to the local source, it was sometime before the Police responded to the call of the public in danger. The Rosslea resident near the device commented to Alex Elliott that the last time a device was left near that location they had to leave their homes for days. In conclusion Alex Elliott stated, “There were 30 experienced Reserve Police Officers in Fermanagh who have recently been made redundant courtesy of political expediency; no thanks to any of my fellow Unionist politicians for trying to save their jobs. When the PSNI need expertise; what does Senior Command do, they dispose of a valuable resource”.
Alex Elliott who was part of the TUV delegation to meet with the Chief Constable last Tuesday also highlighted the ‘threat from within the service’ involving a small percentage of officers who continue to fraternise with those who are drug dealers, criminals and even terrorists.
