Press Release…Press Release…Press Release…Press Release
United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets, Relatives for Justice, Pat Finucane Centre
The PSNI has purchased 120,000 plastic bullets between early 2002 and August 2004 it has emerged. The information is contained in a letter from the PSNI to Relatives for Justice. According to official statistics 50,000 plastic bullets were purchased in 2002, the first year where the Policing Board had statutory authority for policing, a further 50,000 were acquired in 2003 and 20,000 in 2004. 80,000 of this stock have been fired in training though no plastic bullets have been used in public order incidents since September 2002.
Kathleen Duffy, whose 15 year old son Seamus was killed after an RUC officer fired a plastic bullet in 1989, has expressed,
“surprise and anger that the PSNI continues to purchase and train with what is a confirmed child killer. We welcome the fact that none have been fired for some time but the news that the PSNI is still training and firing thousands of these lethal weapons will shock many relatives who have lost loved ones. Security Minister Jane Kennedy said last year that plastic bullets would be withdrawn by the end of 2003 but 70,000 have been purchased since she made this statement. ”
In a joint statement the United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets, Relatives for Justice, and the Pat Finucane Centre have called on the Policing Board to “do the decent thing and ban these weapons.”
“As organisations which offer support to those who have lost relatives due to plastic bullets we are calling on members of the Policing Board to justify the £1 million* plus spent on plastic bullets since 2002. The Board has been responsible for policing here since November 2001 yet we can find no single instance where Board members have questioned this continuing expenditure on a weapon which has caused untold misery and loss in this community. Why has the Chief Constable not be called to account at Board meetings for this? Was this done on a nod and a wink basis between the Board and the PSNI?”
The three groups announced plans for a ‘Money to Burn’ protest at the entrance to the Policing Board HQ on Thursday, 16.09.04, at 12 noon.
A million pounds of fake notes will be symbolically burnt by relatives and campaigners. Rhona Toland, whose 11 year old nephew Stephen Mc Conomy was killed by a plastic bullet in 1982 in Derry said,
“Stephen would have celebrated his 33rd birthday on Thursday. Instead he never even saw his 12th. For him and all the other relatives we are asking, we are demanding, that the Board does what the PSNI are refusing to do; announce an outright ban on plastic bullets. It is simply not good enough to say that none are being used at present. If they are not going to be used then why spend over a million pounds on purchase and training since 2002? Altnagelvin Hospital badly needs an air ambulance which would cost a million pounds. A&E departments have been closed in rural areas and some kids are still in pre-fab classrooms. There are so many better ways to spend a million pounds than on plastic bullets.”
*A plastic bullet costs approximately £7 (parliamentary reply to Kevin Mc Namara MP)
£7 times 120,000 (2002-2004) = £840,000 plus training time.
Training - 80,000 units fired (2002-2004) at 10 mins per expended unit = 13,333 hrs
Cost to PSNI: 13,333 hrs @ average £13 per hr (mid range trained officer lower grade) £173,329
A conservative estimate of purchase & training since 2002 = £101,3329
Since the Patten Report was published the RUC and PSNI have purchased 250,000 plastic bullets (¼ of a million)
See statistics for annual purchase 1999 - 2001
See also www.relativesforjustice.com for further background
Contact 02890 220100 RFJ or 02871 268846 PFC 07989323418
“The board can direct its staff to carry out reviews to ensure that the money provided by them to the police service has been used efficiently”
Policing Board Annual Report (Page 30 2001-2002)
“The policing board sees accountability for financial resources by those who use them as an important step in improving financial management of the police”
Ibid (Page 28 2001-2002)
Policing board principal activities:
- To set the budget for policing and monitor expenditure.
Ibid (Page 64 2002-2003)
“Due to the significant shortfall in funding the Police service was unable to ‘balance the books’ for 2002/2003, and as a result a forecast over spend of £15 million was declared at the start of the financial year”
(Report of the Chief Constable 2002-2003)