Policing the peace in Belfast

Our morning correspondent is Katie Brennan:

As our jet lag finally diminished (fun fact: it takes ninety six hours to fully recover), we woke up this morning, tired as usual, simply because we are teenagers. Most people simply ate cereal here in our kitchen, but Alex and I went down to the breakfast area and ate Ulster Fry for the third time this week. Surprisingly, I am not tired of it yet, but I’ve been told it gets old fairly quickly. For anyone who doesn’t know what an Ulster Fry is, it is a breakfast consisting solely of fried foods with the exception of eggs and baked beans. As our police van driver Colin Downey so wisely stated, “People are always worried about the UVF, UDA, and IRA but that UF kills more people than all those combined—the Ulster Fry.”

After a confusing mix-up about locations for the group to meet (the girls and a few of the guys met in the kitchen at 8:20 while the majority of the guys met down at the gate at that time), we piled into the two police vans provided for our group. My van driver, Colin, cracked jokes and told stories on our way to the police station. He told us about his cousin, who after the Shankill Road bombing in 1993, was shot in the head. He had been going to drop off his girlfriend on that side of town and a disgruntled Protestant was looking at a Catholic to shoot due to the IRA bombing which had just occurred. “He found the only Protestant on the street.” His cousin was rushed to the hospital, where his family came and made fun of him, for the bullet had missed everything remotely important and he was barely injured. He also told us the operation procedure if there was an explosion in the police station: jump seven feet in the air and spin.

The Antrim Station, where we began our day, is located in North Belfast: a patchwork of orange (Protestant) and green (Catholic). Therefore, a great deal of tension arises in this portion of the city since there are many interfaces between different neighborhoods. Colin told us that there is not a lot of problems for the police in South Belfast (where Queen’s is located) except for rowdy students, as that is what happens in all college towns. He said that “The Irish are always looking for something to complain about,” which I feel has been said to us using different wording on multiple occasions. As a group, it seems that the people need to be angry at something and religious affiliation is an easy target for the Northern Irish. Just walking down the street, people can tell which group the neighborhood belongs to solely by the flags: the Catholics have the Tri-color and Protestants have the Union Jack. People know in this part of town not to walk down the wrong side of the street, or it could mean danger or even death for them. Colin pointed out a street and told us that if people were looking to die and they were the wrong religion, they should travel down that road, for there was a good chance they’d be attacked. That’s definitely one road I will be avoiding!

We arrived at the station and were introduced to Constable Alan Withers, Stuart Jones, and Constable Stevie Wilson. They showed us a video of the Whiterock Parade, which occurred on 10 September 2005. It was filmed from the perspective of the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland). This Orange parade went through the center of a Republican/Catholic area, where the Parade Commission had specifically told them not to go. The police had to maintain the peace and keep them out of the area, but when they intervened, the citizens rebelled, causing riots and starting fires. It was surprising the parade yesterday went so smoothly after seeing this. We asked which side: Nationalist or Unionist was more violent, and Constable Withers answered that both sides were violent with equal force and the times of most upheaval is during parades from either sides.

The PSNI was just recently changed from the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) in 2001, which means changes have been made in many aspects of the police system: the name, symbol, the negotiations, the major transition from Troubles to peace, and the concept of being a “police service” instead of “police force.” They view these changes as good but still have to adapt. We were told that everyone wants to transition from the Troubles to a more peaceful society, not just the police service. As Stuart told us, “I think everyone wants to change.” Regarding change, Constable Alan stated: “When I first joined the police, terrorism was right up there and I joined to stop the terrorism . . . Now I’m negotiating with the people who tried to kill me.” They seemed to find this the hardest part, for many are now negotiating with prisoners released from jail due to the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement in 1998. These men have killed their family members and friends and one of the officers related it to negotiating with Osama Bin Laden. However, he told us he has to do what’s good for the community, even if it is hard for them. We further discussed parade issues and dissent among Loyalist and Republican groups, before heading to our next destination.

We went to the CCTV room of the station where we learned about the surveillance system around Belfast. There are about fifty cameras around the city that are recorded and watched 24/7. Most are placed at interfaces and if the viewers see problems erupting, they contact the police, who then check out the scene in person. After surveying the city, we decided it was time to hit the road in the PSNI’s armored cars. Constable Stevie Wilson was my driver. We were taken to a park in which a wall divides the Catholic section with the Protestant part. What is most incredible is that the wall divides a road, so that it dead-ends on either side. Apparently at night, teenage boys from one side and girls from the other meet on opposite ends of the fence and flirt. Kids are the same in every country it seems. He informed us that interface problems are not as bad as they used to be, especially since the PSNI have been talking to the UDA and UVF more often. After a brief stop at an interface (where children stared nervously at the three armored vehicles), we went to the New Barnsley Police Station, which is the most attacked and best fortified. When it was rebuilt, false windows were put in to appear as though windows existed, when in reality, there is nothing but cement behind them. In the station we tried on body armor and got to be handcuffed, which was quite the experience. Though it was fun, hopefully we will never have to be handcuffed again.

My group left the station with the lights and siren on and Stevie showed us a bit more of the car. A grid can be attached to the front window if he pulls a wire so that it can be protected from rocks, or bats. There is also a fire extinguisher in the truck which has tubes to the outside of the car so the officers can spray the front of the car with the extinguisher if someone tries to start fire to the truck. Although the police cars look menacing, they have been worked on to look a bit more appealing. “It used to be grey but now it’s white. It looks like an ice cream vehicle,” Stevie facetiously told us. On our trip, we learned that the speed limit in the UK is measured by miles per hour, while in the Republic of Ireland, kilometers are used.

We then arrived at the PSNI Training Facility, where we met the Chief Superintendent Kevin Dunwoody and the Superintendent Mark Dornan. Dunwoody gave us a wonderful presentation on accountability and dissident threat in Northern Ireland that he created solely for us. We were all incredibly appreciative of his hard work to put the presentation together and his openness toward answering our many questions. Policing has been a contentious issue in Northern Ireland because of history and sectarianism. The PSNI originated from the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) which was changed in 1922 to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). The RUC remained until the creation of the PSNI in 2001. The police force had been seen differently from the Catholic and Protestant sides. The Protestants had been rumored to have been in collusion with the RUC, which made Catholics angry at the police force. Due to outbreaks of civil disorder and campaigns by the Ira, there was 30 years of Conflict in Northern Ireland from 1968 to 1998, in which 3,665 people died. The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement came out on 10 April 1998 and soon after the Patten Report was made public. This report had 175 recommendations including recruitment, training, management, structure, accountability, funding, attitude, and style for the police service. This was a new beginning for policing in Northern Ireland with the explicit commitment to upholding human rights and partnership working. They work for peace and justice, and though they have been scrutinized around the world and especially in their community, they have been working for a better society in Northern Ireland.

We were told about the RIRA and CIRA, two dissident splinter groups off of the IRA, which participate in violent behavior. The CIRA is weak and low in numbers, favoring some violence but not a lot while the RIRA is growing and may cause a future threat to the peace process, as they are more violent than the CIRA. Dunwoody believes that the situation will only get better if the economy improves, for it is horrible right now, and when people are out of work, they are more likely to turn to terrorism. “Nobody is motivated by a met need,” Dunwoody would often tell our group, “We have a very, very fragile peace over here.” With this unnerving statement, we broke for lunch.

Our afternoon correspondent is Alex Barnes:

Hello everyone! This is Alex with the rest of the day’s events. Once we finished up our talk with Chief Superintendant Kevin Dunwoody, we feasted upon a hearty lunch of sandwiches, tea, and many other food items which were so new to us that we did not exactly know the names of what we were eating. We then exited the main complex and were accompanied by Inspector John Keers to the Firearms Training Facility. Although we saw no real firearms being discharged, we got a bird’s eye view (quite literally) of police students practicing dealing with hostile situations. Each trainee had to control the situations of aggression set before them, keep calm while VERY colorful language was being directed at them by their assailant, and manage to subdue the hostile while keeping the victim as safe and as calm as possible. I was impressed by the amount of stress that these trainees were under, but everyone watching from the grated walkway above seemed entertained by it all as all of the students were able to handle each situation set before them successfully. After this exhibition our tour at this facility was over. I hopped into the van driven by our new acquaintance for the day, Keith, and we were on our way.

Our next destination was police headquarters. Although we did not go into the main complex, we were given very informative tours of the gardens and the museum in the surrounding area by Derrick and Sid. I was placed in Sid’s tour group, and we began our tour in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) George Cross Garden. Sid told us all about the features, uses, and history of the garden during the tour. We learned that the garden came into existence by a suggestion made in the Patten report, whose author was the former governor of Hong Kong at the time. Patten’s suggestions also brought about many other useful reforms to the RUC that are still in place today, and its maintenance is completely voluntary. I was impressed by this since it really was quite a beautiful garden. The main colors of the garden were red (from the roses), black (from the pavement), and green (from the grass), reflecting the three main colors of the RUC.

There were also sculptures in the main gardens area. My favorite one was of the seal of the RUC surrounded by a newer looking metal right at the entrance to the gardens. Sid explained the symbols of the RUC and what they stood for: the shamrock represented the nationalist movement, the harp stood for Ireland, and the crown represented the loyalist movement. I found it really interesting how the police force had to operate during the Troubles, such as that they were not allowed to vote or be stationed in neither their home town nor their wives’. This sculpture became just one of many aspects of our day that really helped me to understand the true face of the police force, its role as a real backbone to life in this city, and each officer’s devotion to his or her job. Furthermore, I saw another statue entitled Police and the Community. The sculpture itself was of hands stacked on top of each other palms up, symbolizing the working relationship that the police have with the community and the promise of working in conjunction with each other in the future. This was really significant because earlier in the day I heard from Sid that “in Northern Ireland there are really three groups: Catholics, Protestants, and the Police.” The amount of pressure that “Belfast’s finest” are under in a day to day basis is truly worth noting and respecting. I was not surprised at all when Sid told us that Belfast’s police are the most decorated forces in the world, being able to receive the Victoria Cross or George Cross as their highest medals of honor, especially since during the 1980s we were told that Northern Ireland was the most dangerous place in the world to live in.

The part of the tour that stood out the most to me was our trip to the part of the garden that was set aside for both peace and to commemorate all of the fallen officers in the RUC since it was founded in 1922. Each slab of granite (which was imported from China) had one decade of all fallen officers who had lost their lives. It was startling to see the number go up in the 1970s and ‘80s during the Troubles. The number of terrorist attacks in the region took a large toll on officers and the families of many officers. Sid told us that he had to bury ten of his colleagues in a four month period and that, on average, during the Troubles one death affected roughly three hundred people. The gardens were a very serene and majestic place, and we saw during this tour that both sides of this conflict involve human beings. The Police Act of 2000 emphasized human rights, and it is something the police are working on to increase their accountability in society today. No matter how one side dehumanizes the other, we must stop and ask ourselves who is really at fault here and why it is that one side needs to separate itself from the other in so many ways.

On one last solemn yet necessary note, but still being able to discern from it a greater appreciation of the day’s events, we met with H. G. Forrester in the Police Museum to learn just a bit more about the RUC. He went over some brief history with us, and then he showed us some of the weaponry used by terrorists during the Troubles, such as sticky bombs, mortar shells, Russian made grenades, and many home-made lethal objects. The visualization of the threat in Northern Ireland put into context for me not only the severity of the situation here, but also the importance of the locals sharing their stories with us so we can have a clearer understanding of what has gone on in their country for the past four hundred years and really try to learn from it.

We then departed from HQ and went to our last stop of the day with the police, Castlereagh. Sergeant Colin Duncan led us through the facility for our one hour visit there. We had the opportunity to see the Urban Regional Control Center, which acted as a dispatch and emergency call center similar to ones in the United States. While at home we dial 911, a person from Northern Ireland need only dial 999, and an officer will be dispatched to their position immediately. This center had CCTV equipment similar to the earlier center we saw today, but it also had a main room where men and women worked at stations with multiple computer screens and touch screen telephones at their disposal. This station monitored nearly one-third of Ulster, and they had maps of this area well-drawn out and marked up. Once we finished up with this area, we finally were able to come back to our dorms at Queens at roughly 4:45PM.

Our next and final adventure of the day was to Deane’s (though this was certainly not the same as Deane’s Deli which we visited earlier in the week). Just before entering we met up with Fr. Petkash, S.J., who had just flown in from the States earlier in the day. We were all dressed up for dinner (I even broke out my Argyle sweater), and we received some top-notch service. Though there was little selection, the cuisine was quite delicious! I myself progressed from bread to a souffle of Crozier Blue, then onto my Fermanagh chicken, followed by chocolate mousse. In addition, Patrick Gibbons was able to see a bread comb in action tonight and was later quoted as saying, in regards to his appetizer, “It was free so I bought it.” We all had some excellent food and enjoyed each other’s company.

We returned home around 9:00 and ended the day with a reflection led by Mr. McLenaghan,SJ, and then a response period. This day certainly turned out to be very busy and meaningful for all of us and, unfortunately, I simply do not have all of the time nor the space to write down everything we all were able to experience today.

Well, that is all from me! Be sure to ready everyone’s blogs as the days go on! Thanks for reading!

In the words of John Lennon, “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”