November 2 1974
The Chief Whip of the SDLP, Mr Paddy O’Hanlon, has come to the support of Mr John Hume, Deputy Leader of the Party, who has been strongly attacked from a number of quarters for his TV remark that while many RUC members were decent men, some in his view were actually scoundrels.
Mr O’Hanlon said the veracity of Mr Hume’s remarks were in no way gainsaid by the reported opinion of Mr Basil Stannage, chairman of the Police Federation.
“If Mr Stannage feels that Mr Hume’s remarks are to be disputed”, said Mr O’Hanlon, “will he answer the question – are the police, as at present constituted, acceptable in the Creggan, Falls or South Armagh?
If, as is quite evident, they are not, surely the Police Federation should ask themselves why. It is tragic that in a situation of vast community unrest, Loyalist politicians still refuse to talk about vital issues including policing, to the SDLP and leave public debate on policing to the Police Federation and the Police Authority, whose right to dabble in politics at this level is non-existent”.
Mr Stannage accused Mr Hume of “knife in the back” tactics and deplored the fact that any leading member of the community should express such unsubstantiated remarks at the present time.
Mr Hume, he said, must know that the police, while endeavouring to protect all sections of the community, had suffered more in deaths and injuries than any other police service in Western Europe.
Mr Stannage said he would expect all peace-loving people of influence to encourage support for the police rather than indulge in knife-in-the-back tactics which benefitted no one.
Rev Ian Paisley said that as Leader of the DUP and UUUC and spokesman on the police at Westminster, he called on the Police Authority to challenge Mr Hume to substantiate his allegations or to receive their strongest rebuke.
“If a politician cannot substantiate a serious allegation of this nature”, he said, “then he is the real scoundrel in the piece. The Police Authority must defend the integrity of those who serve unfalteringly in these days of peril and put their lives in constant risk. If the Police Authority won’t, it should resign”.
Mr James Craig, Chief Whip of the Democratic Unionist Party, said Mr Hume was encouraging men of violence and the supporters to “continue their campaign of murder”.
Mr Hume’s slanderous outburst against the RUC was typical of the hatred and resentment that he and the SDLP had for the security forces.
