Return to Flak jackets -- Stormont Watch

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Date Posted: Thu, Dec 13 2007, 21:32:12 PST
Author: From IPSC Board
Subject: Return to Flak jackets

Return to flak jackets!
Posted on December 13, 2007 at 02:05:34 PM by Guardian Newspaper.

Police officers in Belfast have been forced back into their flak jackets because of an increased threat from dissidenr republicans.

Officers on duty in Greater Belfast have been told to put the body armour back on because several have been targeted over the last few weeks, according to Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) sources.

The move is a set-back for the programme to demilitarise policing. Until the recent upsurge in dissident republican activity, officers patrolled Belfast without flak jackets and travelled in cars without armour. Two officers were shot in Derry and Dungannon last month. The (Real) IRA claimed responsibility for the attempted murders, in which the officers were lightly wounded.

A PSNI spokesman refused to discuss in detail new security arrangements after the shootings: "We keep our security response under constant review and it would not be appropriate to go into details on any measures we take." \Security sources said there had been three separate threats against officers in Belfast over the last fortnight. They said the (Real) IRA had switched it's attention towards Belfast after the shootings in Dungannon and Derry.

A security source said: "There is strong intelligence that the (dissidents) republicans are planning some kind of attack. Police officers on the ground have been told to be extra vigilant as we approach Christmas. We are working flat out between Belfast and the country to keep the lid on these guys."

The republican dissident groups have been responsible for a series of bomb hoaxes at Belfast shopping centres over the last fortnight. A bomb alert yesterday between Portadown and Moira partially closed the Belfast to Dublin rail link.

Targeting police officers is part of the dissidents campaign against Sinn Fein, which at the start of this year formally offered it's support to the reformed policing structures in Northern Ireland. The attacks are also aimed at dissuading Catholics from joining the PSNI. Most of the officers who have recently been told their movements were being watched are Catholics, security sources added.

The government is planning to devolve the control of policing and justice in Northern Ireland to the power-sharing executive.

However, the Democratic Unionist Party has said that these powers cannot be devolved until the entire structure of the Provisional IRA is dismantled, including it's ruling body, the Army Council.

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