A Sinn Féin protest at the launch of a report yesterday praising the PSNI's human rights record was dismissed by the North's chief constable Hugh Orde as part of the "rich tapestry" of policing in Northern Ireland.
Mr Orde also took advantage of the protest to suggest that Sinn Féin had little justification in such demonstrations in light of the alleged murder by IRA members of Robert McCartney.
About 10 protesters entered the conference room of the Stormont Hotel in Belfast yesterday, where the Policing Board-sponsored report was launched, and unfurled a banner proclaiming, "Who sanctioned British death squads. Time for the truth".
While the report found that the PSNI had the best human rights record of all United Kingdom police forces, the protesters said that the PSNI could not be treated seriously until allegations of collusion were fully addressed.
No effort was made to remove the protesters who stood quietly at the back of the room. A number of people at the event however walked out during the protest.
After unfurling the banner the group's spokesman Robert McClenaghan walked to the front of the room to address the delegates. "We believe it is important that we come here today just to make the point that the issue of collusion is central to any human rights culture," he said.
"It is central to the development of policing, especially within nationalist and republican areas," Mr McClenaghan added.
"If we are serious about promoting human rights culture within the PSNI, then one of the key issues that has to be grappled with and dealt with seriously and effectively is the issue of collusion."
The protesters left shortly afterwards prompting Mr Orde to say it was disappointing that they did not stay to listen to what he had to say. He described the protest as an interesting part of the "rich tapestry" of policing in Northern Ireland.
"We are very proud of our human rights and, just for the record, the PSNI has always been against death squads and those include, for example, the people who murdered Mr [ Robert] McCartney," he said.
Mr Orde said the report by lawyers Keir Starmer and Jane Gordon underlined the PSNI's "utter commitment" to deal fairly with everyone in the North.
The authors stated: "In our view, the PSNI has done more than any police service in the UK to achieve human rights compliance and, in many respects, we have been very impressed with the work the PSNI has undertaken in the human rights field."
In December 2003, Mr Starmer and Ms Gordon developed a framework for testing the police's human rights performance. In their report published yesterday, they made a number of recommendations on how the police could continue to improve their human rights record.
These focused on the PSNI's code of ethics and how police dealt with public order situations, use of force, covert policing, victims' rights, the treatment of suspects and human rights awareness among officers.