Those who attack young Catholic police recruits in Northern Ireland are trying to prevent the creation of force acceptable to the entire community, the SDLP claimed today.
Mr Eddie McGrady, South Down MP and Police Board member, urged the entire community to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
His call came after a Catholic student officer and his family were forced to flee their Newry home at the weekend. The PSNI said the family had to move following intelligence about a specific threat from dissident republicans.
"This was a very, very serious threat against the life of this young recruit from what I understand was dissident republicans," Mr McGrady said. "It is an expression of the extreme republican attitude to the new police service".
He claimed it was an attempt by paramilitaries and those in organised crime to prevent a new police service acceptable to everyone in the community. "When that [the new force] is in place, their criminal and paramilitary activity will be much more difficult to continue".
But Mr McGrady said many young Catholics were continuing to enter the PSNI despite such intimidation.
"The force is not representative at the moment but change is beginning to occur quite quickly. As well as more Catholics applying, the whole training process, human rights and equality agenda are making enormous changes to the culture in the force".
PA