Our morning correspondent today is Clark Andrews:
Today we had the privilege to visit a police barracks and spend the day with many of the officers and hierarchy of the police force of Belfast. The morning began with the police picking us up at Queen’s University. We all piled into two vans and began to make our way to the police barracks. It struck me that almost anyone you talk to in Belfast with call it a police barracks and not a police station. This in my opinion must be because of the brutal and militaristic reputation the police force had throughout the Troubles and Irish history. Arriving at the station this epiphany was further upheld by the appearance of the barracks. It had high walls with barbwire and spikes and truly looked as if it was in an active war zone. As we passed through the checkpoint and the rather muscular police officer I gained my first sight of the police land rovers. These were by no means high-end luxury trucks, but rather ultra-militarized armored cars. They were equipped with blast shields and were completely bullet proof. These armored vehicles also had large, technologically advanced video cameras attached to a moveable platform at the top. I found this rather strange, however, later in the day the purpose behind these cameras became clear. We eventually made our way up to a conference room where the officers introduced themselves and we returned the pleasantries.
The officers then showed us two videos of their force in action from both 2010 and 2009 Twelfth of July parades. The Twelfth of July parades have been controversial throughout Irish history and often upset the Catholic Nationalist community. My initial reaction to the video was utter shock. The police force was under attack from massive crowds of hooligans who were fearless in their aggression. The massive crowds of rioters often threw bricks, stones, petrol bombs, and blast bombs. In one seen the protestors disabled one of the police land rovers and ripped the door open to seize the officers. Luckily, a large tank like vehicle showed up to subdue the crowd with its water cannons. These violent outbursts of civil disorder were frightening. Just last year, a large brick was dropped off a building and fell onto a female officer. She had to resign the force because of post-traumatic stress disorder. The officers began to explain such shocking confrontations to our group. They began by explaining that peaceful protests of Catholic Nationalist start the day and the police force’s present is light. The guards wear an average police uniform and there are a minimal amount of land rovers. However, around four o’clock, the police presence increases exponentially. Light guards are traded out for heavy guards, similar to those of US SWAT teams, and the full number of police vehicles is called out. This is because around four o’clock all the wild rioters have woken up and are ready to make their way down to the parades for their return trips from city center. Many of these rioters are teenagers who enjoy the excitement and do not necessarily understand the politics behind the violence. These teenagers merely see it as an opportunity to throw bricks at cops as a form of entertainment. There of course are also those who firmly believe in the politics and are trying to send a message to the police. Surprisingly, there have also been several convicted criminals from other countries who joined the riots. These rioters began with verbal abuse but quickly began the above named aggressions. The whole video was shown through the cameras of the police land rovers and CCTV cameras on buildings and the officers on the ground. Belfast is the number one most supervised city in Europe. To my surprise, the officers told us they made very few arrests on the parade days. Instead, the arrests come later after the parades and enough time has passed for the police force to analyze the videos of the riots. They then begin to track down the rioters and have strong evidence against them. This was a strange idea to me; in the United States this would be unprecedented. However, this became the most practical reason as spent the rest of the day with the police force. The city would be too difficult to control otherwise. Raymond Lennon told us, “Belfast has the most loving people in the world, but they just are not loving to each other.” This has been my experience so far. The first few days everyone was friendly with our group, however as the days approach the twelfth, the tension between various factions within Belfast was growing.
One officer Rory took the time to speak with Mr. Bredesca, some of the other students, and I. His specialties were identifying the suspects of civil disorder and determine their activities. He was a Catholic who after receiving his masters in criminal justice decided to become a police officer because he wanted to make a difference in his world. He told us that in Catholic neighborhoods the residents said the police would not be as brutal in the Protestant neighborhoods. Ironically he stated, the Protestants tell him the same thing. This really shows the preconceived notions of the police. Rory said he is just trying to stop people breaking the law; he does not care if they are Protestant or Catholic and that is an attitude held throughout the police force. Fortunately, the public opinion of the police has come a long way. He then told how the land rovers had become vulnerable to attack because they are the same RUC cruisers from the Troubles thirty years ago. Many of his friends had been injured or killed and each land rover had its own story of who had died inside of it and how. He even began to open up his personal life and told us how he and his girlfriend check their car every day for explosives and he hides his identity coming to and from work. It was interesting to hear the stories of the police force in first person. It strongly contradicts the stories of previous people we have talked to. The different perspectives of people paint an interesting picture of the conflict and the misunderstandings between different groups because of preconceived notions. One of the officers took us out on patrol with her. She was our guide to the city, and had worked as a community policewoman who specialized in suicide. She trained groups of policemen so they would know how to deal with certain situations. One powerful stop of the tour was an average city park. However, a closer look reveals that it is no ordinary park; it is an interface between Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods and a source of violence in the community. A peace wall was constructed to stop the conflict but it left a sickening reality. Children from both communities go to the park to play in segregated areas never having a chance to interact with the children on the other side of the wall. The conflict in Northern Ireland and particularly Belfast are often vexing. They are so complicated that it often leaves me perplexed. For example, why don’t the parades just take a different route to avoid violence? Well because it impends the people’s civil rights. This is just one example of many questions raised. Asking questions is a way to work through conflict. It bridges gaps with new knowledge. This day with the police has provided great insight on the conflict in Belfast and how everything is interconnected. Belfast seems rather pleasant until you look closely at the city and see the troubling internal conflict. This conflict should make us feel uncomfortable and make us strive for social change.
Our afternoon correspondent is Brian Clark:
This afternoon, we were all given the privilege of listening to Gary White, Hugh Forester, and Officer Allens. Each of them had very different topics to talk about, even though it was all under the same central idea, policing in Northern Ireland. Gary White gave us an overview of policing in Ireland/Northern Ireland. Hugh Forester talked to us about the history of policing in Northern Ireland. Officer Allens showed us how CCTV cameras can be used to benefit the society of Northern Ireland.
First we had the pleasure to have a presentation from Gary White, Assistant Chief Constable, who gave us all the overview of the policing in Northern Ireland. He made key points about how the police dealt with paramilitary powers such as the IRA and UVF. Another point he made in his presentation was how the police aren’t really liked in Northern Ireland, and even though it is getting better with people trusting the police, there are still many groups of people who refuse to trust them. But then he made that connection of the not trusting the police to America and how people don’t trust people in cities like Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and Chicago. He told us a story about how he landed in San Francisco the day of the Rodney King verdict and there was rioting in the city. That day he was randomly interviewed by a news reporter who asked him how as a tourist he felt about the riots and all that was going on, he replied that he is a police officer from Northern Ireland and is used to rioting. That made me realize that everyone has different views on policing and our experiences with the police ultimately shape our perspective.
Next we were privileged to receive a presentation from Hugh Forester, the Curator of the Police Museum, who taught us about the history of policing in Ireland/Northern Ireland. I thought learning the history behind the policing was great. He talked about many aspects of policing. Early policing under Sir Robert Peel was highly militaristic. Nineteenth century Ireland had a higher number of police officers than England and the RIC was ultimately a colonial police force. In fact, Ireland was a training center for colonial police all over the British Empire. He explained how the RIC became the RUC after partition. Originally it was envisioned that 1/3 of the officers would be Catholic, but this never happened. He spoke about the Special Powers Act and its draconian powers. The Special Powers Act gave the police of Northern Ireland the same power as the secret police in the Soviet Union and the Nazis. He explained how desperately reform was needed and how much has changed since the Good Friday Agreement and the Patten Commission. He delivered his presentation very well, and I felt very privileged to have gotten his lecture on the history on the policing in Northern Ireland.
Finally, we met with Officer Allens, who is the Head Director of CCTV. The overall experience meeting with him was really cool and interesting. He illustrated for us how the CCTV cameras are used to watch over Northern Ireland to keep the peace. I learned that the CCTV cameras are literally everywhere. All the monitors we saw in the monitoring room were all places we’ve been to before, so it was a little bit surreal knowing that we were on those cameras being watched at one point or another. By the end all of us were checking out the cameras that looked over Belfast and were watching people on the monitors. It was a surreal experience seeing how the CCTV cameras work, and also how they use the CCTV cameras to keep order in Northern Ireland; especially Belfast.
After hearing all of the different views of people on the policing in Northern Ireland, it reminded me of a quote by Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith that stated, “Every conflict we face in life is rich with positive and negative potential. It can be a source of inspiration, enlightenment, learning, transformation, and growth – or rage, fear, shame, entrapment, and resistance. The choice is not up to our opponents, but to us, and our willingness to face and work through them.” I believe this quote can apply to all that we have been studying in Ireland, but especially to this aspect because the Police Service of Northern Ireland have the choice to be either good or bad police officers, and if they want to end the conflict in Northern Ireland, they can contribute by doing the right thing such as being friendly, trustworthy, and honest.
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