Department of Justice Letter Has Police Federation Seeing Red

Widdis letter 'attempt to gag, embarrass and chastise' Chief Constable

The Chair of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, Liam Kelly, says a letter sent to the Chief Constable by the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Justice appears to be a 'high-handed attempt to gag, embarrass and chastise' him.

Mr Kelly labelled the letter from Hugh Widdis as appalling and the football equivalent of showing the Chief Constable a yellow card, effectively putting him on a final warning that the next indiscretion would result in a red.

Mr Kelly says: "It is unlikely this letter was compiled as a solo run. Mr Widdis needs to clarify who endorsed this approach and explain their collective motivation and intention.

"In my view, the tone and tenor of this letter was disgraceful and was a crude attempt to put the Chief Constable firmly back in his box. The letter was deliberately copied to the Prime Minister, the First and Deputy First Ministers, the Justice Minister, the Assembly Justice Committee, the Finance Minister and the Northern Ireland Policing Board. If this approach is endorsed by our local political cadre, what hope is there for our police service?

"Mr Widdis seemingly sought to chastise and gag Jon Boutcher with this high-handed and menacing letter. It was a shocking insight into how a senior Civil Servant regards our Chief Constable without as much as a mention of the officers who were injured in street unrest or a credible acceptance of the day-to-day struggle to make ends meet with a wholly inadequate budget. Policing is on its knees and the pleas for positive intervention are not being heeded.

"Mr Boutcher was right to go over the heads of local Ministers and appeal directly to the Prime Minister. He was forced to do that because he has already evidenced and outlined to Ministers the facts around the critical position policing is in. From the minute he was appointed, he has been making the case for more resources, but nothing tangible has changed. The ongoing dithering and procrastination at local level has dictated his actions.

"The Service is in crisis mode. Officer numbers are alarmingly shrinking, workplace pressures and demands are unsustainable and breaking our officers, and services are having to be pared back. We have politicians and Departments that are seemingly more concerned with their positions of power and slavishly following their protocols and processes rather than actually fixing a problem that is getting worse.

"This Federation completely supports Mr Boutcher and what he is doing to highlight the funding 'famine' and adverse impact on our officers and the policing services they provide. He cannot be put in a 'straitjacket'.

"Warning him of 'consequences' for going outside Civil Service referral processes is risible if it wasn't so serious. Attempting to gag the Chief Constable to prevent him from speaking out about the cuts and the failure of Stormont to campaign for a proper budget is yet more evidence of a system that is dysfunctional and broken.

"We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr Boutcher and say loudly to our politicians, Mr Widdis, and his peers to get real around this crisis in policing rather than resorting to what can only be viewed as coercive tactics to curtail, restrain and admonish someone who is doing his level best for both the Service and this entire community."