Anglo-Irish Agreement an impediment, says former RUC chief

A FORMER RUC chief constable, Sir John Hermon, has objected to both the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the Downing Street Declaration. He has also rejected claims that the RUC operated a shoot-to-kill policy during the early 1980s.

Ahead of the publication next week of his autobiography, Holding the Line, the retired chief constable yesterday said the Anglo-Irish Agreement was an "impediment to real progress".

Sir John said the agreement increased fears about the constitutional position of Northern Ireland. "That will make people think I'm a hard-nose loyalist and I'm not. I simply believe that these things are matters for the people and not politicians," he said in an interview in yesterday's Belfast Telegraph which is serialising the book. "It's not politicians, it's people who will decide these matters at the end of the day."

Sir John also objected to the 1993 Downing Street Declaration. He regarded the RUC's policing of loyalist and unionist opposition to the 1985 agreement - much of it directed against RUC members - as highly successful.

In his book he reported that some senior civil servants in the North approached him "surreptitiously" to discuss their resignations in protest at the Anglo-Irish accord.

Sir John writes that he told them with "more irritation than sympathy... `Do your duty', as I will mine".

The former chief constable again rejected allegations that the RUC operated a shoot-to-kill policy during the 1980s when six unarmed people - five of them alleged republican paramilitaries - were killed by the RUC in Co Armagh in three separate incidents.

The killings gave rise to the Stalker/Sampson inquiries. Sir John is particularly critical in his autobiography of the handling of the inquiry by the former Manchester deputy chief constable, Mr John Stalker.

Sir John said the three sets of killings were explained by the heavy threat of force from the IRA. There was no decision to ambush paramilitaries or to police more aggressively but he was not prepared to be passive in the face of the IRA.

"Their job is to murder, damage, suppress and wreck. If you're going to stop that, you don't want boy scouts. You want people who could stand up and shoot if they were shot at.

"If they're going to do it, do it better. If someone is going to get killed, let it be them. Always use minimum force but minimum force must be judged by the situation you're in."

While those killed by the RUC were unarmed, Sir John was insistent. "Shoot-to-kill means nothing. All it does is put people in mind of murder. I deal in facts, facts, facts which is truth, truth, truth. No, fact can be distorted if it's true.

He said the religious imbalance in the RUC was never by design and mattered little as long as policing was professional.

Sir John praised the current chief constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan. He has the potential to be the best chief constable in the RUC's history - bar none. He is a product of the system. He has a lot of experience and he's very articulate. His background in physical sports, especially rugby, gives him a calmness under pressure."