The PSNI's record on community relations has gone through different stages since it was founded in 2001, but few periods have been more difficult and damaging than the last week.
It must always be acknowledged that the vital task of policing a divided society will inevitably be a complex and dangerous one, and that, as a list of contentious incidents linked to funerals has demonstrated, officers frequently find themselves facing dilemmas of unenviable proportions.
However, it is reasonable to expect that consistency, good judgment and above all common sense will be at the heart of the PSNI's decision making process from command level to constables on routine patrol.
It is alarming that those qualities have been so hard to find during high profile episodes in different parts of Belfast in recent days when increasingly serious questions have surrounded the police response.
The organised gathering of an estimated 50-plus loyalists, wearing covid masks and hoods, in east Belfast on Wednesday, was a blatant act of intimidation which has been widely linked to the UVF.
Police arrived, but, as video evidence demonstrated, made no effort to detain or even question the perpetrators, who despite ignoring the social distancing guidelines were allowed to leave unchallenged.
The contrast with the PSNI's tactics on the Ormeau Road on Friday, when a small group of relatives and residents set out to mark the 29th anniversary of the sectarian murder of five people in Sean Graham's bookmakers, could hardly have been more stark.
An initial police statement claimed that between 30 and 40 people assembled, although photographs suggested a much smaller number, but it was plainly a brief and dignified annual ceremony which did not require any form of attention from uniformed officers.
The PSNI's decision to intervene was simply wrong and led to a series of confrontations, culminating in the disgraceful hand-cuffing and arrest of Mark Sykes, who was carrying flowers to the scene where he was seriously injured in the 1992 attack.
Chief Constable Simon Byrne’s subsequent apology, the tone of his interview with The Irish News yesterday and the suspension of one officer represented an initial acknowledgment of the major harm which has been caused to the PSNI’s reputation.
It will have to be the start of a much wider process if confidence in our policing structures is to be rebuilt.
