Chief Constable: "I have no intention of resigning"

The Chief Constable Simon Byrne has said he will not resign.

His comments come after a report into the policing of the Bobby Storey funeral found that police prioritised public security over enforcement of Covid-19 regulations without showing bias.

"I have got no intention of resigning, I have said that from the outset," he told the media.

"Leading a large, complex organisation, there will be occasions where things do not go as well as you hoped.

"We are here to listen. We're here to police all sections of the community in a fair and even-handed way. We have been working hard right across the country to demonstrate we are committed to being fair and impartial."

He added: "The findings from the Inspectorate have shown the sheer confusion and anomalies with the regulations."

Responding to questions about criticism in the report about the keeping of records, Mr Byrne said: "It wasn't that there were no records, we submitted over 500 documents to the inspectorate.

"I think the criticism is that on six occasions record-keeping should have been better. We are trained to complete an audit trail, we have to accept that and we will learn those lessons.

"It is a regret that we didn't keep records to the standard that HMIC would have expected but the people involved in those conversations are adamant personally that that is what happened."

He added: "In the last few months there has been a lot of emotion around policing this funeral and we need to work hard to convince, particularly at the moment, the Protestant/unionist/loyalist communities that we are here to police them just the same as anyone else and we are going to redouble our efforts across the summer."

The Police Federation for Northern Ireland (PFNI) have also reacted to the report saying that whilst there is learning for the PSNI, the Stormont Executive must bear some of the responsibility for events that unfolded around the Bobby Storey funeral. PFNI Chair, Mark Lindsay, said: “As well as supporting the actions taken by the PSNI, this HMIC Report is at pains to point out the ‘confusing’ Health Regulations which officers were expected to enforce.

“It is acknowledged that these Health Regulations were difficult to interpret. In a situation where there was a glaring lack of clarity, there was an inevitability that it would cause difficulty. “The Executive must bear some of the responsibility for what happened. The framing of the Health Regulations was poor. All of which means that Ministers cannot absolve themselves or hold a position that they did all they could to give direction and certainty. “As police officers, we are charged with policing in a very difficult environment and there are recommendations in this report with regard to how PSNI can improve their processes. “What happened at the funeral contrasted sharply with how other funerals were handled and how mourners should behave. The fall-out has been damaging and the task now is to rebuild trust and relationships.”