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(Editorial, Irelandclick.com)

Five days after the brutal murder of 15-year-old Thomas Devlin on the Somerton Road, the PSNI have issued another appeal for information and continue to refuse to be drawn on the issue of whether or not the killing was sectarian. Meanwhile, the man who raped a teenage girl on the Blacks Road over a week ago remains at large and a threat to women.

In investigations into such serious crimes, five days or a week might not be that long a time, but when we remember how the PSNI dealt with two phone calls from members of the public offering information about the Blacks Road incident, we wonder whether this was a one-off slip-up, as the PSNI would have us believe, or whether it is the case that the PSNI is simply not up to the job.

Certainly, the latter proposition gains credibility when we consider the clueless response of the PSNI to continuing sectarian mayhem in north Antrim. Handing out smoke alarms and fire blankets to families in danger of being murdered in their own homes is hardly the quality of service that nationalists and republicans demand before they sign up to the new policing arrangements.

It appears that, for the PSNI, the transition from paramilitary militia to modern police force is proving much more difficult than many had imagined. Chief Constable Hugh Orde thinks that on the back of the IRA statement ordering volunteers to dump arms the onus is on Sinn Féin to begin co-operating with his officers on the ground. But when the performance of those officers is utterly inept, as it was in aspects of the Blacks Road investigation, or a derogation of their duty of care, as in north Antrim, then the onus is on the PSNI to get its act together before lecturing others.

This article appeared first on the Irelandclick.com web site on August 15, 2005.