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Funerals can turn into uncontrollable situations, a senior police commander in Northern Ireland has said.<\/p>\nFunerals can turn into uncontrollable situations, a senior police commander in Northern Ireland has said.<\/p>\n
It is up to independent prosecutors to decide if enough evidence exists to take court action for breach of coronavirus regulations, Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) assistant chief constable Alan Todd reminded politicians.<\/p>\n
Unionists on the Policing Board scrutiny body warned against \u201ctwo-tier\u201d policing following the Bobby Storey funeral in Belfast earlier this week while republicans said it had become a \u201cpolitical football\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Todd said funerals were a particularly difficult area for his officers to police.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite often, despite the best efforts of funeral directors, clergy, organizers and others, because of the emotion and people\u2019s desire to become involved that becomes a situation that people cannot necessarily control.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen there is a judgment on whether you would include policing intervention in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is down to the independent Public Prosecution Service (PPS) to decide whether to launch court action based on the evidence available.<\/p>\n
Mr Todd said Stormont\u2019s coronavirus regulations had not had the benefit of clarification through court proceedings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is my anticipation that a number of cases will go through that process and judgment will be made before the court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe as a police force will perform our role in taking information that is available and taking the evidence that we have gathered, subjecting that to due process through the PPS and through the court system, if it meets the threshold in the judgment of the independent prosecution service.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in Policing Board member Gerry Kelly said the regulations around funerals had changed and added only 30 were in the cortege.<\/p>\n
Both points were contested by the DUP.<\/p>\n
Mr Kelly said if police had stepped into the middle of the funeral it may have turned into a more difficult situation with many more people ending up there.<\/p>\n
The Sinn F\u00e9in veteran said: \u201cThere were over 1,200 men and women dressed in white and black out there so that the crowd would not go on into the route of the cortege.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an impossible job to stop people going to a funeral where someone was so highly respected.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to take a sensible approach in trying to make sure that the least harm is done in the circumstances that you are presented with.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said thousands had watched the event online.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be a bit balanced around just picking on this.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has become a political football.\u201d<\/p>\n
DUP Policing Board member Trevor Clarke said two members of the Policing Board were part of the funeral \u201ccharade\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf nothing happens here then this adds to the narrative of two-tier policing, that some can do whatever they want.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said hundreds had participated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very disappointing that two of those were members of the Policing Board and one is the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n