Sinn Féin Creggan Councillor Kevin Campbell has questioned the use of police resources in Creggan last night when the local community claim that up to a dozen PSNI jeeps, two bomb disposal squads and a helicopter were deployed.
Cllr Kevin Camobell.
Councillor Campbell said, “I have been contacted by residents of Ballymagowan Gardens complaining about the saturation of their area during a police operation last night.
“I have to say that deployment of such large numbers of police and bomb squads to carry out what seems to have been the search of one house does not demonstrate prudent use of finite police resources.
“At a time of fiscal restraint in every other area of public service the PSNI should also be required to justify the cost of such operations particularly where the results are minimal.
“While the PSNI may claim that these activities are intelligence led, this unproductive type of large scale operation not only brings into question the cost of the operation but the quality of the so-called intelligence which informed the decision to carry it out in the first place.
“It also does not go unnoticed in the community that there is no limit to the resources available the PSNI when investigating anti -State activities but severely restricted when it comes to drug dealers, criminal elements and anti community activities.
“The manner in which these searches are carried out results in an unacceptable level of disruption and inconvenience to the local community including the elderly and ill. It also undermines confidence in community policing which we have invested so much in over recent years.”
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