Review has changed face of policing in South Armagh: Byrne

​He was speaking after a DUP motion in the Assembly on the ‘ramming of police vehicles’ in the area.

It said such attacks “coincided with far-reaching and politically-motivated policing reforms in the area”.

A Sinn Fein amendment to the DUP motion, removing the mention to the south Armagh policing review, was accepted by MLAs.

Cllr Byrne said: “Given the success of the South Armagh Policing Review it’s incredibly disappointing to see the DUP using attacks on police as an opportunity to play politics and to reverse some of the progress that’s been made.

"Attacks on police should be condemned in the strongest possible terms, but the way to address these issues is not through Assembly motions like this.

“I have engaged extensively with local PSNI teams on issues around the ramming of vehicles and police chases and they have confirmed to me that they’ve applied for more liveried vehicles to keep the public safe when incidents of this nature occur. This motion goes totally against what the PSNI themselves are saying and does not reflect the views of people in South Armagh.

“What we should be focused on and what will actually help improve the situation in South Armagh is implementing the outstanding recommendations from the policing review. We have around 80% of the recommendations now in place and it has completely changed the face of policing this community. We won’t be going backwards.”