February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The petrol bombing of the home of the board’s vice chairman, Denis Bradley, has reawakened fears of an upsurge in attacks by dissident republicans on independent board members.
Dissident republicans are deeply opposed to the new policing arrangements set up under the Patten report.
Board members have been told that attacks would likely become more serious if Sinn Fein were to join the policing board and the regional policing partnerships. Independent Catholic members would remain most at risk, as the dissidents are not willing to attack Sinn Fein members for fear of retribution by the Provisional IRA, PSNI believe.
Bradley, whose home suffered scorch damage last Thursday night after a number of youths hurled petrol bombs at its front door, was attending a board meeting at the time. His family was, however, in the house. This is not the first time that such groups have targeted Bradley. His life was threatened last fall and he has since received bullets in the mail.
Sinn Fein refuses to endorse the policing board and said the new policing regime fails to meet the standards set by former British government member Chris Patten in 1999. Patten’s recommendations were a key part of the Good Friday agreement.
Bradley is not the first person to have been targeted by dissident republicans. In September, Derry policing partnership member Marian Quinn had her car destroyed in an arson attack. A week earlier, Cookstown DPP member Teresa Rooney resigned after a threat was made against her. Earlier attacks included the scorching of a Strabane DPP member’s car and a hoax bomb that was left outside the home of a DPP chairman in Tyrone.
Policing board members fear that an upsurge in such attacks may prevent members of the community coming forward to sit on local DPPs.