Sir Ian Blair must clear up position on RUC ‘paramilitary’ comments - Copeland
UUP East Belfast Candidate Michael Copeland today demanded immediate clarification from Metropolitan Police Chief Sir Ian Blair over comments given last night in television interview. Sir Ian compared the RUC to a paramilitary organisation.
In a statement Mr Copeland said,
“Regardless of the circumstances of the interview, Sir Ian, as Chief of the Metropolitan Police, should be media savvy enough to avoid the traps set by presenters. He clearly didn’t.
Whether this was simply a tripping up in interview scenario, which I think it was, or a deliberate barbed attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary, which I would like to give Sir Ian the benefit of the doubt that it wasn’t, it is nonetheless an outrageous and deeply insulting assertion.
The RUC, of which my wife was proud to be a member, held the line against paramilitaries and along with the Army, helped secure, at great personal sacrifice, the relative peace that many take for granted today.
Sir Ian must clarify, for those who are insulted and who are hurting this morning, what his views on the Royal Ulster Constabulary really are. I would like to think that he would have the decency to do so.”