Arrest as police chief starts work

Sep 22 2009

Police investigating dissident republicans in Northern Ireland have arrested a man as new Chief Constable Matt Baggott took up his job.

Amid fears of some sort of attack being mounted to coincide with Mr Baggott's arrival in Belfast, officers carried out a number of searches in Dungannon, Co Tyrone.

A Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) spokesman later confirmed that one man had been detained for questioning in connection with dissident republican activity.

There were traffic delays in several areas as police mounted roadblocks as part of tightened security.

Earlier this month, a 600lb bomb was found in south Armagh. It was apparently set up by terrorists to kill police officers at the time of the departure of Mr Baggott's predecessor, Sir Hugh Orde.

Later, Mr Baggott will meet the chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, Barry Gilligan.

The growing threat posed by dissidents is just one issue in the packed in-tray awaiting Mr Baggott.

The father-of-three assumes command of the PSNI as the force is having to balance multimillion-pound funding cuts with growing public demands for more officers on the beat.

He also takes the reins ahead of the politically sensitive transfer of security responsibilities from Westminster to the devolved administration at Stormont.

Add to that a looming court order to hand over top secret reports on alleged Royal Ulster Constabulary "shoot to kill" incidents during the Troubles, and the ramifications of an internal performance review which flagged up serious shortcomings in day-to-day policing within the present day PSNI, and it is clear that Sir Hugh's successor will not have much of a honeymoon period.