NI’s ex-police chief warns dissident republicans will exploit hard border
Northern Ireland’s ex-police chief Sir Hugh Orde has warned that a hard border would be exploited by dissident republicans.
The former chief constable of the PSNI said there is no way to avoid the return of security patrols if there is a no-deal Brexit.
He also accused politicians of having their heads “stuck in the mud and hoping it will all go away” when it comes to the security threat surrounding the Irish border issue.
Speaking to RTE’s This Week programme, Sir Hugh said there would be “huge consequences” if a hard border returned, adding that security officers would be targeted.
Straight talking on the reintroduction of Irish Border from former head of PSNI Sir Hugh Orde, OBE, QPM. He said the politicians have their heads in the sand. I have been warning since the day after #Brexit that there will have to be a border. Let’s stop messing & talk about it
— Senator G Craughwell (@GCraughwell) January 27, 2019
“History tells us that, by definition, they are targets, as soon as you have a fixed point, and we have to think of this particular issue in the context of the politics, to recreate a hard border would be of huge significance in security terms,” he added.
“By definition it would be foreseeable that they would be those at risk and would be targeted.
“The moment you see anything that starts to create the perception of a very hard distinction between north and south, it creates a catalyst that allows people to exploit that position and certainly dissident republicans would be in that category.”
He said it would not be possible to monitor the border with only cameras and technology.
“There is nowhere to my knowledge in the world where a purely technological solution to an issue of a border has been achieved or is likely to be achieved,” he said.
“You can do a certain amount with technology but you still need an element of policing to deal with determined criminals and people who take advantage of a privileged status, so there would have to be some form of physical customs presence and there are huge consequences to that in context of Northern Ireland and (the) Republic.
“In my judgment you would have to see some form of physical barrier like exists in many parts of the world where international borders are routine part of everyday policing of different countries.”
The former president of the Association of Chief Police Officers said that, if he was still police chief of the PSNI, a hard border would “worry me greatly”.
Referring to last weekend’s New IRA car bombing in Londonderry, he described it as a “significant move”.
He added: “It’s a statement that things are going to get more difficult, not less.”
He was asked whether politicians have paid enough attention to the security threat that looms over a hard border.
“People seem to have a head stuck in the mud and hoping it will all go away,” he said.
“If I was chief I would do my very best to maintain the border using non-military resources.
“The military are not there to reinforce international borders unless a threat is extraordinarily high.
“I’m sure both the Commissioner of the Garda (Drew Harris) and the Chief Constable of the PSNI (George Hamilton) would do their best to maintain a presence to support what should be custom and excise officers.
“The military would have to be seen as a last resort, not a first and only if civilian law enforcement agencies did not feel they were capable of securing those positions safely for the people working there.”
