Memorials to murdered RUC officers at Strand Road PSNI station in Derry have been moved to an area shared with photocopiers
THE row over RUC plaque at a Derry police rumbles on today with a senior PSNI chief stepping in to apologise for its removal.
The memorial was moved away from a public area of Strand road police station to another room where photocopying is carried out.
Over 2,500 2,500 people have signed a petition at www.change.org calling for the RUC memorial to be returned to its original position.
Stephen Martin said that no local commander had the right to remove or relocate memorials to officers killed in the line of duty.
He admitted that mistakes were made and that “protocols were not followed”.
The memorial commemorates fallen RUC and PSNI officers.
Among those it remembers is Catholic RUC officer Michael ‘Massey’ Ferguson who was shot dead in Derry city centre in the early 1990s.
ACC Martin said today: “We are very conscious of the hurt and distress caused by the resiting of some of these memorials..
“I know that Supt Mark McEwan, the commander in Derry and Strabane, has already expressed his apologies and I would add my apologies and that of the chief constable for any distress or hurt.”
The memorial was on display in what used to be an enquiry office at Strand road police station.
There are also other items of commemoration in a lecture theatre.
ACC Martin SAID said that Supt McEwan wanted to bring all these items together in a special place within the station so that people could see them on a more frequent basis.
ACC Stephen Martin say Derry police chief didn’t follow protocols over removal of RUC plaque
“Our own protocols for resiting them are that we do consultations with the victims families,” he said.
“On this occasion he didn’t do it and no one regrets that more than him. He didn’t follow the protocol.
“He made the decisions for all the right reasons, with really noble and legitimate intentions but he himself would recognise that it wasn’t handled the way it should have been handled.”
Supt Mark McEwan is now in consultation with families and those concerned.
One of the options available is that the plaque is returned to its original place.
Unionists have reacted with fury to the removal.
Last week Derry and Strabane PSNI commander Supt Mark McEwan issued a memo to officers which appeared to say the reason for moving the memorial was to have it away from public view.
“As the front enquiry office is still utilised by members of the public, the memorials have been moved to a new memorial area located outside the constable’s briefing room on the third floor,” he said.
UUP Policing Board member Ross Hussey MLA, a former RUC Reservist, had expressed serious concerns but says he has now been reassured.
“Having visited the police station and having had the opportunity to see the situation for myself and speak to senior officers, I am confident that a genuine mistake has been made in this instance with no offence intended,” he said.
“The room where the granite memorials had been on public view is no longer used by the public, he said, but is now used as “an overflow” for people who attend for voluntary interviews.
“I believe the commander’s intentions were – and indeed are – good,” said Mr Hussey. The ultimate aim is to establish a police memorial area in the station in which many memorial items can be located,” he added.
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