PFNI condemns ‘deplorable threat’ to police families

The Police Federation for Northern Ireland (PFNI) has roundly condemned the threat to officers and their families by a dissident republican group.

PFNI Chair, Liam Kelly, said: “The deplorable threat issued by dissident republican thugs to police families marks an escalation in their pathetic rhetoric.

“These people, and whoever else collaborates with them in their murderous cabal, point to the bankruptcy of their position.

“They are without purpose, other than to kill and maim officers and now, it seems, their families. They are trying hard to find relevance when they are being shunned.

“Threatening police officers and their families is despicable. Officers work on behalf of everybody without fear or favour. And their families make big sacrifices so that officers can continue to safeguard communities and counter the reckless and profit-inspired gangsters who deliver misery.

“We must work together to rid Northern Ireland of the scourge of paramilitarism and gangsterism, and I would appeal for an all-out community effort to do just that.”