Belfast: UK's National Crime Agency Should Operate In Northern Ireland ?

Failure to let the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) operate fully in Northern Ireland has left local gangsters feeling untouchable, the Stormont Assembly has been warned.

*Britons must accept a greater loss of digital freedoms in return for greater safety from serious criminals and terrorists in the internet age, according to the country’s top law enforcement officer.
Keith Bristow, director general of the National Crime Agency, said in an interview with the Guardian that it would be necessary to win public consent for new powers to monitor data about emails and phone calls.
Warning that the biggest threats to public safety are migrating to the internet and that crime fighters are scrambling to keep up, the NCA boss said he accepted he had not done a good enough job explaining to the public why the greater powers were necessary. ...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/oct/06/digital-freedoms-terrorism-crime-uk 

*The police have been ordered by the prime minister’s snooping watchdog to reveal whether they have used their surveillance powers to identify journalists’ sources.
Sir Paul Kennedy, the interception of communications commissioner, has launched a full inquiry following two cases in which the police have accessed telephone and email records to identify journalists’ sources.
He has urged Home Office ministers to accelerate the introduction of promised protections for journalists, lawyers and others who handle privileged information, including confidential helplines, from such police surveillance operations. ...
*www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/oct/06/police-ordered-reveal-ripa-powers-identify-journalists-sources

*More than 140 crime gangs are operating in Northern Ireland, and the National Crime Agency must be given full powers to tackle them, the DUP had said.
www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-29499195 

During a heated debate on the impasse over extending all the NCA's powers to the region, unionists claimed Sinn Fein and the SDLP's opposition to the move was letting many organised criminals off the hook. www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk 

But republican and nationalist Assembly members rejected the allegations, insisting the NCA could only be allowed to fully operate in Northern Ireland if its officers were subject to the same rigorous oversight mechanisms as the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

While an organisation described as the UK's FBI has been up and running for a year, it is as yet unable to work on security matters in Northern Ireland that fall within areas devolved to the power-sharing administration.

Sinn Fein, as the largest nationalist/republican party, has effectively vetoed the NCA's full implementation due to its claimed concern over accountability.

In the summer, a United Nations children's rights monitor expressed strong concerns about Northern Ireland's failure to sign up to the NCA, claiming there was not a clear system of co-operation to identify and respond to children who are particularly at risk of becoming victims.

Democratic Unionist William Irwin, tabling the Assembly motion calling for full implementation of the NCA, noted police estimates that about 140 crime gangs were active in Northern Ireland.

He also highlighted the pressure the PSNI was under as a result of having to absorb a £50 million-plus budget cut over the next six months.

"At a time when our policing budgets are under pressure it makes complete sense to allow the PSNI to have the necessary assistance of the NCA to carry out their investigative duties," he said.

"The ability to seize assets is also vital in the fight against these gangsters who currently think they are untouchable.

"The reluctance of Sinn Fein and the SDLP to accept the necessity of allowing the NCA to operate and the PSNI to avail of its expertise in the fight against crime internationally means that Northern Ireland and its citizens are at a severe disadvantage.

"The two nationalist parties continually bleat about equality, yet once again the equality calls fall short when ensuring that our communities have the very best in terms of security and organisations tasked with protecting communities have the very best intelligence and powers at their disposal."

Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly claimed that the history of policing during the Troubles demonstrated the need for all law enforcement agencies working in the region to be subject to the same oversight as the PSNI.

The PSNI, which was established as part of peace process policing reforms, is held directly accountable for its actions by the independent scrutiny body the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

"Our history has demonstrated what unaccountability does," claimed Mr Kelly, who is also a member of the Policing Board.

"If you go back to those times then you had a force within a force, you had 'shoot to kill', you had state agents involved in crime right up to and including murder, you had confessions beaten out of people going through interrogation centres and we had a police force, not a service, which was acting as front line troops which was also involved in collusion and corruption.

"So if you want to know why we are so strong on this issue then history and the evidence has shown why we are so strong on this."

The SDLP's Alban Maginness said progress had been made to address his party's concerns on accountability but stressed that he and his colleagues would not agree until firm commitments had been secured.

"Until those issues are firmly tied down we will not be supportive of the NCA in operational terms in Northern Ireland," he said.

"Now I think that is wise counsel, I do not believe that is being thran or obtuse or trying to frustrate the rule of law.

"We know the history, we are right, we are going to get this right and it is the right approach."

Ulster Unionist Tom Elliott claimed nationalists and republicans were only opposed to the NCA for political reasons.

"It appears the two nationalist/republican parties are opposed to it simply because it is a UK National Crime Agency," he said.

"What could be wrong with trying to curtail crime, with trying to cut out crime and with trying to stop crime. I am not actually sure what the argument is about?"

The cross community Alliance Party's Stewart Dickson said the "myths and fears" created around the NCA needed to be "debunked".

"There is absolutely no doubt that the absence of a fully functioning National Crime Agency is negatively impacting on our ability to deal with serious and organised crime," he said.
"There is clear and precise and statistical evidence available."

The DUP's motion calling for the full implementation of the NCA was voted through in spite Sinn Fein and SDLP opposition.

A Sinn Fein amendment arguing that the NCA should be subject to greater accountability was defeated.

The motion records the Assembly's majority view on the issue but does not compel action - that will only happen if an agreement can be reached around the table of the power-sharing Executive.
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