Fury over police call-out response

A woman, who did not want to be named, told the ‘MAIL’ how a police phone operator said that he did not want to send officers out to a crime scene, as it would be too dangerous.

The 23-year-old was out walking at Craigavon Lakes when she returned to her parked car to find the tyres had been slashed.

She said: “I rang the police when I noticed what happened to my car. The guy on the other end of the phone was just completely rude.

He told me that he did not want to send his officers out to me because Craigavon was a dangerous place for the police. I was absolutely disgusted with his attitude.”

The telephone call was made shortly before 10pm last Wednesday night (October 6).

Two police officers eventually made their way to the scene and the woman said they were a great help.

She said: “The two officers who came out were wonderful. It’s was just the guy on the phone that I was angry at.” Sinn Fin Councillor Mairead O’Dowd, who sits on Craigavon District Policing Partnership, was angry at the attitude of some sections of the PSNI.

She said: “The scene of this particular crime is in an area that is regularly patrolled. There is no reason to suppose that the officers attending would be at any greater risk than they would be if on a regular patrol.

"If they did believe that they were at a higher risk, then it was a matter of bringing in a support team. While we expect reasonable measures to be taken to ensure the safety of officers and members of the public we also expect them to carry out their job of protecting the public from crime.”

Cllr O’Dowd said that Sinn Fin have raised this issue before, both privately with the PSNI and at DPP meetings.

She continued: “The problem appears to emanate from the PSNI call centres and is caused by personnel who either have not got the proper communication skills to do their job correctly or who have an ulterior motive for dealing with calls as they do.

"Offering the threat of violence as a reason for failing to respond to calls is in line with the public position of the Police Federation who constantly attempt to make a case for maintaining the Reserves and increasing the numbers of PSNI officers employed.”

Sinn Fin will be seeking a meeting with the E-District Commander over the issue and will be writing to the Policing Board to make them aware of their concerns.

Cllr O’Dowd concluded: “In fairness to the officers who did attend the scene, they had no problems in coming out and dealt with the matter in a friendly but professional manner. The vast majority of calls are dealt with correctly and quickly and the majority of officers do their jobs properly. The small numbers of personnel who offer feeble excuses are damaging the reputation of their colleagues and the Police Service and their behaviour is irresponsible.”

The DUP’s Cllr Carla Lockhart said: “This once again demonstrates that these violent groups have nothing to contribute. Their ongoing activity is not going to bring their cause of a united Ireland forward by one day and, as this instance shows, the threat of dissident republican violence is only successful in bringing trauma and anxiety onto the community.”

A police spokesperson said: “Police in Lurgan will always endeavour to respond as efficiently and effectively as possible to calls, however, as an emergency service, certain calls must take priority. We are certain that the local community understands this and will work with us to this end.

“We are committed to delivering a professional service and are happy to speak with anyone who has concerns about how we go about our work. Alternatively anyone who has a complaint about the actions of a police officer can contact the Police Ombudsman.”

The spokesperson added: “Police have stated publicly that, as there are people in the community who are determined to kill and injure our officers, we must approach some calls with caution. Police will assess the situation and will then seek to take the right action to keep both the community and our officers safe.”