Police will release images of people involved in disorder ‘when we need to’
Officers were attacked with petrol bombs and masonry by a gang of youths, some wearing masks, in the Bishop Street area of Derry on Tuesday evening
Police will release images of people involved in street violence to identify those involved when it needs to, Jon Boutcher has said.
The PSNI chief constable faced questions at the Policing Board over whether images would be released of young people involved in recent disorder in Belfast and Derry.
Police in the region have previously released images of suspects involved in violence, including following race riots in Ballymena and other areas of Northern Ireland last year.
Two police officers were injured and five vehicles were damaged in the incident.
Meanwhile, officers were attacked with petrol bombs and masonry by a gang of youths, some wearing masks, in the Bishop Street area of Derry on Tuesday evening.
DUP Policing Board member Trevor Clarke asked when the police would “routinely” give out images of those involved in disorder.
He said: “These people don’t like being shamed, they don’t like to see their pictures on social media, and they don’t like being called out.
“The sooner you do that, I think it’ll be much more effective.”
The chief constable said: “We introduced a policy to make sure we release these images to help identify and deter people when they see images of themselves.
“There are some criteria with regards to ages that we have to be very careful of.
“The young people in Derry who have been involved in disorder this week, I have to say, by and large, we think we know who they are.
“We’re going through identification processes.
“So when we need to release those images to help us, we will.”
Mr Boutcher said he was “furious” about the scenes in west Belfast on Monday night.
He said: “We will release stuff to make sure that we identify people and arrest them.
“There is a staged process to make sure that we’ve done everything we can to identify them though before we do that, and that mechanism is under way.
“And if we know who they are, we’re not releasing the images.
“We’re just going to get our ducks in a row before we go and arrest them.”