PSNI host ‘serious crime’ media exercise

The bewildering complexity and daunting responsibility of investigating murder and terrorism in Northern Ireland was made apparent during a recent PSNI media exercise.
Detective Chief Inspector Karen Baxter.Detective Chief Inspector Karen Baxter.
Detective Chief Inspector Karen Baxter.

The Sentinel was invited, along with news organisations such as the Irish Times, the BBC and Sky News, to a media exercise designed to “increase awareness of how serious crime is investigated and help inform reporting of such incidents.”

The exercise involved reporters taking part in a round table examination of the role of a Senior Investigating Officer tasked to a serious crime.

The exercise followed, coincidentally, disturbances in Londonderry last week following a serious crime.

Officers were attacked during a follow-up security operation in the Creggan area on Monday, November 3, 2014.

The PSNI said that ten petrol bombs were thrown at officers, as well as stones and bottles. The officers came under attack during an operation following a dissident republican bomb attack on police in the city on Sunday, November 2.

A number of homes in Creggan Heights were evacuated while the police carried out a “scene investigation”.

Last week’s media exercise, which had been planned before the situation in Creggan unfolded, gave some degree of insight into the intimidating task of investigating a serious crime amid Northern Ireland’s particular political circumstances.

Chief Constable George Hamilton, speaking last week after the disturbances in Creggan, alluded to the difficulty of both carrying out the PSNI’s responsibilities after a serious crime and maintaining the safety of officers and the public.

He said: “In recent weeks there have been a number of attempts to murder police officers. On Sunday night there was the attack on four officers in Creggan Heights and in the previous weeks there have been two attempts to kill police officers by making false reports to police with the intent of bringing officers into an area where a bomb would then be detonated.

“I heard first hand from the community that there were real concerns about the amount of time taken to set up cordons and to complete the scene examination.”

Residents, some of whom said they were in pyjamas for 48 hours following the “scene investigation” and subsequent evacuation, had complained about the disruption.

The Sentinel took part last week in a media exercise designed to give an insight into why the PSNI make decisions such as those to evacuate people from their homes during an investigation.

It was, in other words, an exercise designed to show why people are forced to leave their homes, in pyjamas, for long periods of time as the PSNI try to get to the bottom of a murder, act of terrorism or other serious crime.

Reporters from news organisations across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland were presented with a fictional but realistic - and gruesome - scenario and asked to assess the options available to a Senior Investigation Officer.

The scenario presented an anonymous call to the 999 telephone service to report a serious crime in a politically sensitive area of Northern Ireland.

Consideration had to be given to the possibility that the call may have been an attempt to lure officers into a terrorist attack.

Consideration had to be given to the time of day and even the time of year.

Reporters were asked to consider forensic examinations and were asked to weigh the need to preserve evidence against the potential to cause disruption to a potentially hostile community.

Consideration had to be given to the use of information from police intelligence, to ensuring relatives were informed, to maintaining police safety and maintaining the safety of the community.

The exercise succeeded in presenting the bewildering complexity of an investigation of serious crime.

It made clear how everything from identifying a victim to making an arrest had to be considered in excruciating depth before any action can be taken, often amid punishing circumstances with potentially devastating outcomes.

One of the officers who spoke at the media exercise was Karen Baxter, a Senior Investigating Officer for the North West area. She said: “All of this information is swimming around your head. Sometimes you have to make the least bad decision.”