‘Sinister attempt to intimidate': Vandalism of NI Prison Service billboard branded ‘pathetic'
They posted a statement with the video on their website, which said the 'British state continues to recruit for its Prison Service in occupied Ireland, hoping that they can balance the books with 'Catholics''
It added: "Just like the PSNI, they will fail.'
DUP MLA Phillip Brett has criticised those responsible as 'pathetic'.
'I utterly condemn the disgraceful and cowardly vandalism of a Prison Service recruitment billboard recently on the Antrim Road. This is nothing more than a pathetic and sinister attempt to intimidate future applicants from pursuing an honourable and essential career serving and keeping our communities safe,' the North Belfast MLA said.
'Let me be clear, those responsible represent no one but themselves.
'They are relics of a dark past that the vast majority of people across Northern Ireland have long rejected. The men and women of the Prison Service carry out a difficult and vital job, often in challenging circumstances, and they deserve nothing but our respect and support.
'These thugs will not succeed in their attempts to deter individuals from stepping forward to serve our society,' he added.
'Political representatives in North Belfast should publicly condemn those behind this and support the right of the Prison Service to advertise in and recruit from all communities.
'I would urge the PSNI to take firm action against those who shamelessly and foolishly filmed themselves carrying out this criminal damage.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
11 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Why Afghan data breach cover-up is a genuine scandal
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The scandal that landed last week over the cover-up of a massive data breach of not only tens of thousands of potential Afghan refugees but also British intelligence agents and special forces personnel will run deeper and longer than the headlines and outrage it generated. We have come to expect significant data breaches, be they through incompetence and error of administrators, the criminal exploits of organised crime or political agents of foreign powers intent on bringing down our democratic freedoms. What continues to shock many people, however, is when the politicians and officials we expect to look after our interests go to extraordinary lengths to cover-up their failures, be they innocent or guilty of the original misjudgment. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Our political class appears to find no difficulty in being prepared to sign-off not just millions or even hundreds of millions – but billions of pounds to make problems we were not even aware of appear to go away. Large numbers of Afghans fled the country when Western forces withdrew and the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021 (Picture: Master Sgt Donald Allen/US Air Forces Europe-Africa) | U.S. Air Forces Europe-Africa vi Democratic scrutiny denied As if that is not a scandalous enough breach of public trust, some politicians then travel down the road of using legal processes such as super-injunctions to prevent public knowledge of their department's administrative failure to protect them from political embarrassment. The use of a super-injunction means the reporting of the actual injunction itself is not possible – so only a limited few are aware of the scandal and the legal cover-up that has taken place. It means the ordinary democratic processes of public scrutiny and accountability are automatically denied and the democratic order of making elected representatives responsible for their judgments and actions is bypassed. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad One might think the natural order of actions having consequences in a democracy would be restored when there is a change of government but, as is so often the case, the poor decisions of previous governments are very often picked up by new administrations who see there is advantage in continuing with the same approach as they too might suffer some blow-back and might want to avail themselves of the same secret protections. Veterans at risk To sum up, when the real life-threatening failure for many of sending personal data to the wrong person was discovered, a conspiracy between ruling politicians, government officials and then opposition politicians who became the new rulers resulted in several billions being committed to accepting 25,000-30,000 refugee applicants into our country. The possibility that some of those might actually not be who they appeared to be, but have criminal histories and intentions or be agents of terrorist groups cannot be discounted. Meanwhile the new government, aided by many activist lawyers working through lawfare, take it upon themselves to instigate processes that put our veterans at risk of prosecution and spend a great deal less on veterans' welfare such as housing. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Unsurprisingly, these revelations have led to recriminations about the role of some previously respected politicians who were thought to be on the side of veterans and seen as hawks in the pursuit of protecting our all-too-porous borders. Politicians such as the former Secretaries of State for Defence, Ben Wallace and Grant Shapps, have been forced to justify their actions at the time. Of course, when a scandal breaks under the pressures of competitive politics, naïve confusion and wilful misrepresentation abounds. Some politicians who were not in office at the time and had no responsibility for a particular error – such as the application for a super-injunction or the establishment of potentially costly refugee schemes that could be open to abuse – are smeared by the accusations and recriminations. Super-injunction may have backfired Establishing a timeline of when decisions were taken, whom they were taken by and what the consequences were becomes crucial in determining if the policies pursued were justifiable. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In the case of the mistaken release of data, there is now good reason to believe the pursuit of the super-injunction – while thought at the time to be necessary to protect lives – only served to elevate the importance of the data and make it more valuable to the Taliban. Sadly this type of misjudgment without consequences is all too prevalent in British establishment circles. We should recall how in June 2021, Angus Lapsley, a British official, left behind classified Ministry of Defence documents at a bus stop in Kent. They were found by a member of the public, dripping wet from the rain and handed in to the BBC. The papers included PowerPoint presentations and e-mails that revealed sensitive military recommendations regarding the UK's military presence in Afghanistan; details about the British military's response to Russia's reaction to HMS Defender's passage through disputed Ukrainian waters; further plans for a possible UK military presence in Afghanistan; details of service numbers around Kabul and arms export campaigns. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Lapsley was not dismissed or prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act but had his security clearance suspended and was redeployed to the Foreign Office. Yet this year he was appointed Britain's permanent representative to Nato. In contrast, another senior civil servant, Richard Jackson, was fined £2,500 under the Act for leaving sensitive papers about al-Qaeda on a train in 2008. Politicians must trust public Cover-ups and sometimes consequence-free misjudgments appear all too easy in our parliaments. If our political discourse and decision-making – including whom we choose to elect – is to improve, then we need to be better informed. Treating the public as children rather than adults only ever results in child-like behaviours and outcomes. For our people to make considered choices and be able to trust our politicians requires far more trust in the public from the politicians themselves. When Prime Ministers make promises before general elections, they should be expected to do everything in their power to deliver them – or learn not to make pledges they cannot keep. When politicians fail, they should be ready to accept responsibility, and only those that do should be given the opportunity for redemption – rather than shielding those who have hidden the truth from us for years and even decades.
South Wales Argus
27 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
Officers considering legal action against Police Scotland over Trump visit plans
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF), which represents 98% of all police officers in Scotland, said the force has already breached health and safety standards in the run up to the visit by the US president. Thousands of officers are expected to be involved in what Police Scotland has described as a 'significant policing operation'. The White House confirmed Mr Trump will visit his golf courses in Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire between July 25 and 29. Thousands of officers are expected to be impacted by Donald Trump's five-day visit to Scotland (Andrew Milligan/PA) He will meet the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the First Minister John Swinney during his private trip. The visit is likely to result in widespread protests, following similar demonstrations during his last visit to Scotland. David Kennedy, general secretary of the SPF, suggested planning for the visit has already put officers at risk. He said: 'We currently have workforce agreements in place to protect police officers and provide minimum standards of Health and Safety at work. 'Sadly, we have seen these agreements breached in the days leading to the arrival of Potus (President of the United States) and as such we are seeking legal advice regarding potential legal action against the service.' Speaking to STV News, Mr Kennedy said he had 'major concerns' about the plans to police Mr Trump's trip. He told the broadcaster: 'We do not have enough police officers in Scotland. 'Anyone that says we do, I don't know where they get those figures from. 'We know what police officers have to do day in, day out and we need more officers in Scotland. 'When these events come along that puts those officers that are here under so much pressure.' David Kennedy said the Scottish Police Federation is looking at legal action against Police Scotland (Andrew Milligan/PA) Police Scotland said earlier this month it would seek help from the Scottish and UK Governments over the 'considerable' cost of policing the visit. It has also asked for support from Northern Ireland's police force, the PSNI. There had been speculation the King would host the American leader in Scotland after a meeting was suggested at Balmoral or Dumfries House, in a letter he wrote to Mr Trump in February inviting him to make the state visit. But it is understood that both sides will wait until the president's official state visit later this year. Police Scotland's Assistant Chief Constable Emma Bond said: 'We are working closely with the Scottish Police Federation to address any concerns they may have.' A spokesperson for the PSNI said: 'There are well established processes for any UK-based police services to request support from other services at times of peak demand. 'These requests are managed via the National Police Co-ordination Centre (NPoCC) and we can confirm that PSNI have received a request to provide mutual aid to Police Scotland which we are currently assessing. 'The decision to provide officers under the mutual aid process will be considered against our own demands, ensuring that we retain the capacity to respond effectively to local issues and maintain our own operational competence.'
South Wales Guardian
28 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Officers considering legal action against Police Scotland over Trump visit plans
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF), which represents 98% of all police officers in Scotland, said the force has already breached health and safety standards in the run up to the visit by the US president. Thousands of officers are expected to be involved in what Police Scotland has described as a 'significant policing operation'. The White House confirmed Mr Trump will visit his golf courses in Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire between July 25 and 29. He will meet the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the First Minister John Swinney during his private trip. The visit is likely to result in widespread protests, following similar demonstrations during his last visit to Scotland. David Kennedy, general secretary of the SPF, suggested planning for the visit has already put officers at risk. He said: 'We currently have workforce agreements in place to protect police officers and provide minimum standards of Health and Safety at work. 'Sadly, we have seen these agreements breached in the days leading to the arrival of Potus (President of the United States) and as such we are seeking legal advice regarding potential legal action against the service.' Speaking to STV News, Mr Kennedy said he had 'major concerns' about the plans to police Mr Trump's trip. He told the broadcaster: 'We do not have enough police officers in Scotland. 'Anyone that says we do, I don't know where they get those figures from. 'We know what police officers have to do day in, day out and we need more officers in Scotland. 'When these events come along that puts those officers that are here under so much pressure.' Police Scotland said earlier this month it would seek help from the Scottish and UK Governments over the 'considerable' cost of policing the visit. It has also asked for support from Northern Ireland's police force, the PSNI. There had been speculation the King would host the American leader in Scotland after a meeting was suggested at Balmoral or Dumfries House, in a letter he wrote to Mr Trump in February inviting him to make the state visit. But it is understood that both sides will wait until the president's official state visit later this year. Police Scotland's Assistant Chief Constable Emma Bond said: 'We are working closely with the Scottish Police Federation to address any concerns they may have.' A spokesperson for the PSNI said: 'There are well established processes for any UK-based police services to request support from other services at times of peak demand. 'These requests are managed via the National Police Co-ordination Centre (NPoCC) and we can confirm that PSNI have received a request to provide mutual aid to Police Scotland which we are currently assessing. 'The decision to provide officers under the mutual aid process will be considered against our own demands, ensuring that we retain the capacity to respond effectively to local issues and maintain our own operational competence.'
