Patterns of Policing and Policing Patten
By Paddy Hillyard & Mike Tomlinson
The Secretary of State has defended the bill in a number of places claiming that Patten's radical vision has not been lost, gutted or binned.(83) However, our own assessment supports O'Leary's conclusion that the PCR has been eviscerated. As he has expressed it:
The Bill is a fundamental breach of faith, perfidious Britannia in caricature. It represents Old Britain: it was drafted by the forces of conservatism, for the forces of conservatism. It keeps or preserves the powers of the secretary of state, the Northern Ireland Office and the Chief Constable. (84)
63 Press release, PANI, 19 May 2000
64 Police (Northern Ireland) Bill, s.33(3a)
65 id., sched. 1, part VI, s.17(4).
66 id., sched. 3, s 8(2a).
67 At present, Belfast is covered by four police divisions only one of which is contained within the city boundary. The remainder straddle the city and extend 20 miles or more from the city centre.
68 Police (Northern Ireland) Bill, s.55.
69 id., s.55(3).
70 Stalker firmly believed that the decision to remove him was a 'political one, based on the coming together of common interests that were threatened by what, in June 1986, I was about to do.' (Stalker, op. Cit. N.25, p.263) If he was correct, then this clause would provide a way for any government to terminate an inquiry which it did not like.
71 Police (Northern Ireland) Bill, s.56(4).
72 id., s.56(8)
73 See B. Rolston, Unfinished Business: State Killings and the Quest for Truth (2000).
74 Amnesty International, response to a 'New Beginning: policing in Northern Ireland' (November 2000).
75 See Tomlinson, op. Cit., n. 44.
76 Police (Northern Ireland) Bill, s. 58.
77 Some commentators suggested a more radical solution, see McGarry and O'Leary, op. Cit., n.32, ch 3.
78 Police (Northern Ireland) Bill, s.44.
79 id., s.41(1).
80 id., s. 47.
81 id., s 2(3b)ii.
82 id., see ss.18, 25, 26, 28, 48, 49
83 See, for example, P. Mandelson, 'I am wedded to the radical vision of the Patten Report' Irish News, 15 June 2000; P. Mandelson, 'I am listening' Guardian, 16 June 2000.
84 B. O'Leary, 'Perfidious Britannia' Guardian, 15 June 2000. |
