'Is it a matter of time?' - Chief Constable on attacks on police
The PSNI Chief Constable has questioned whether it's a matter of time before terrorists succeed with an attack on his officers.
Last updated 23rd Aug 2019
Speaking to Downtown Radio/Cool FM News, Simon Byrne mentioned recent attacks in Wattlebridge, Co Fermanagh and Craigavon last month.
On both occasions, officers were lured in by one suspect device with another disguised bomb nearby.
In Wattlebridge, the device went off close to where police officers and ATO personnel were working.
"Frankly, is it a matter of time before a terrorist gets lucky and is able to detonate a device that injures one of my staff, or a member of the public?", he said.
Mr Byrne went on to appeal for prospective officers not to let it put them off from applying to join the PSNI.
"At the moment, it's too early to say if the threat to officers is dissuading people," he said.
"We get thousands of applicants when we open up our recruitment process.
"Clearly my appeal is to people from both nationalist and working class loyalist communities - we want to see more of you in this great organisation so please step forward to protect your own communities."
As for the long term solution to combatting the influence and capability of terror groups like the New IRA, the Chief Constable says their most valuable resource is local people.
"We've worked very closely with organisations like MI5 to try and do all we can to intervene, to disrupt and prevent harmful attacks right across the country," he explained.
"The biggest weapon to fight terrorism is the community themselves and that's why I'm so keen to invest in neighbourhood policing teams, but also do more with other partners and agencies, to build motivation and capacity within communities to solve problems themselves."