Last week’s case in the Court of Appeal in respect of the legal challenge by the family of Sean Brown brought into sharp focus once again the Chief Constable’s support for a public inquiry.
The case, rightly or wrongly, has become wholly political. That much is obvious from the procession and protest at the court. That the case has been adopted by those with political motives does not, of course, detract from the fact that the Brown family are entitled to truth and justice, as is every other victim’s family, including those murdered by the IRA.
However, the Chief Constable making public pronouncements in support of a public inquiry creates at least the perception of the PSNI involving itself in a contentious legacy issue with a political context.
It is not the Chief Constable’s statutory responsibility to decide whether there should be a public inquiry. That is a decision squarely within the constitutional and legal ambit of the UK government, and in this case the Secretary of State.
There is accordingly no reason as to why the Chief Constable should therefore be stepping across the separation of powers into the Executive branch and offering public commentary on what are in effect political decisions, much less ones which are extremely controversial.
The observations the Chief Constable wished to make could have been made in private to the government, but even then, should have been confined to the PSNI’s statutory responsibilities, rather than overstepping those boundaries.
The precedent having been set, how does the PSNI now avoid making assessments as to whether there should be public inquiries into murders and acts of terrorism carried out by the IRA? And if they refuse to offer assessments and commentary of those cases, then that only further embeds the perception of being one-sided on legacy.
In my view (and not everyone in unionism agrees, particularly some of those who have grave concerns about legacy), Jon Boutcher is an excellent chief constable. I do not impugn his motives or subjective positive intent, but in this instance he has fallen into error.
Jamie Bryson, NI Director of Policy, Centre for the Union
