DUP leader challenges Sinn Fein over public support for police
Mr Robinson said Sinn Fein representatives condemned a suspected dissident republican attack on Dunmurry police station on Saturday.
However he claimed they did not challenge criticism on social media by some republicans of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) chief constable Job Boutcher visiting a school in Twinbrook last week.
He said “leadership has to be more than just condemnation, but visual and vocal support for the PSNI”.
Previously, Mr Boutcher has challenged all political parties to speak up in support of the PSNI.
Mr Robinson insisted that he and his party colleagues give that visual and vocal support for the PSNI.
“I give it, my colleagues Trevor (Clarke), Cheryl (Brownlee) and Keith (Buchanan) give it when they sit on the Policing Board every week,” he said.
“It’s not incompatible to say you can challenge and hold people to account whilst giving full-throated support, encourage our communities to engage with the PSNI, encourage our communities to join the PSNI, encourage young people in our communities that they have a life of opportunity if they are prepared to step up and serve our community, that is leadership.
“That’s the sort of leadership that I think we should expect from leaders across the political spectrum, and that’s what I would like to see.”
Mr Robinson went on: “Condemnation is the easy part, the hard part is trying to engage with the hearts and minds of those in your community who don’t support the police, challenge those who criticise the chief constable for going to a Twinbrook school last week, stand with school leaders who are brave enough to welcome the PSNI into their schools to talk about community relations, alcohol and drug abuse, criminal behaviour and anti-social behaviour.
“If the PSNI were frustrated from going into a school in my constituency by rogue elements, criminal elements or terrorists I would stand at the front gate and support their entry to that school because what they do is vital for our society.”
Also speaking at Stormont, UUP leader and former PSNI officer Jon Burrows said it is “high time that political leaders across the spectrum took the step and said that we fully support the PSNI”, but extended a direct challenge to Sinn Fein.
“They have to stand up and say to the Republican community, violence not only is wrong, but was always wrong,” he said.
“Because until they do so, there’s a small group of people who perpetuate the narrative that it can be okay to use violence for political acts.”
He added: “Sinn Fein are saying it’s not okay to do it today, but it was okay to do it yesterday, and that lives on within the Republican community.
“We need them to say that there’s never a time, there never was a time that you can use violence.
“Let us take that out of the equation once and for all, because dissident Republicans today live off that ideology, and they also follow the Sinn Fein and the IRA’s copybook when it comes to violence, so we do need to see that leadership.”