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Policing - new material (78)

01 August 2006

Report of the Independent International Panel on Alleged Collusion in Sectarian Killings in Northern Ireland. Center for Civil and Human Rights (Notre Dam Law School, Indiana, USA) November 2006, pp.115. In 2004 the CCHR panel was invited by the Pat Finucane Centre to investigate 25 cases of alleged collusion between members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (now the Police Service of Northern Ireland) and Ulster Defence Force and loyalist paramilitaries. It found evidence indicating collusion in 24 of the cases, involving a total of 74 murders. Their report documents evidence of direct participation by RUC officers and UDR soldiers in some of the attacks and says that superiors within the security forces failed to prevent, investigate or punish those responsible. The authors believe that in some of the cases there is "a prima facie showing of State responsibility" but point out that the mechanisms available for victims of British state terror are deficient in terms of providing restitution in line with international law and standards. See: http://www.serve.com/pfc/sarmagh/collusion.pdf

Greece: policing racist violence in the 'fenceless vineyard', Georgios A. Antonopoulos, Race & Class Vol. 48 no 2, 2006, pp 92-100. This article draws on interviews with Greek detectives to survey police attitudes towards migrant communities and racist violence. The author says that migrant communities, particularly the Albanian, are viewed as "hotbeds of crime" and that racist acts against these communities are often viewed as "incidents of self-defence".