It was reported on November 7 that Jon Boutcher is to be appointed the next RUC/PSNI Chief Constable following approval by the British supremo Chris Heaton-Harris in the Occupied Six Counties.

Jon Boutcher, who was interim chief constable, has more than 35 years’ experience as a police officer in Britain. He previously served as the chief constable of Bedfordshire Police and led the Operation Kenova investigation.

He succeeds Simon Byrne, who resigned in September after a series of controversies.
Boucher was until recently leading Operation Kenova, which has been investigating the activities of Stakeknife, the British army’s top agent in the Six Counties.

Operation Kenova is an investigation into whether the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in the Six Counties failed to investigate as many as 18 murders in order to protect Stakeknife who was working for the Force Research Unit inside the IRA.

Boucher faces a challenging in-tray, including a budget crisis, dealing with the fall out following a significant data breach in which the personal details of all RUC members and staff were mistakenly published online, and a critical High Court ruling that said two junior members had been unlawfully disciplined for their actions at a Republican commemoration event. He also has to tackle chronic and deep-rooted issues in the RUC/PSNI.

The so-called Police Service of Northern Ireland was to replace the sectarian RUC following the Stormont Agreement with a 50/50 policy of recruiting from both communities in the Occupied Six Counties. This was abolished in 2011 and it is reckoned that around 19% of the nationalist community are now in the force. It remains a sectarian force which concentrates on the nationalist community.

There is still denial at senior level of the systematic collusion in the RUC which John Stevens found during his 14-year battle to reveal the full extent of it: over 90 per cent of his reports remain secret.

There is hostility and obstruction in the RUC/PSNI to the Police Ombudsman’s office. The British government has run down funding for PONI.

The RUC/PSNI delays, obstructs and appeals cases brought by relatives, the majority of whom are nationalists, killed by Crown Forces. They remain a heavily armed paramilitary force who routinely stop and search nationalists throughout the Six Counties and conduct raids on the homes of the nationalist people.

The force remains a British colonial force; it’s job to maintain British rule in Ireland. Jon Boucher will have his work cut out to reform this failed sectarian force.

CRÍOCH

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