Criminal investigations are being conducted into three PSNI officers who were involved in celebrations after Armagh’s All Ireland win.
The BBC has reported that the neighbourhood officers have been made aware of the investigation for alleged driving offences.
It follows a social media clip showing a police vehicle being driven in Camlough, County Armagh, using lights and sirens and flying an Armagh GAA flag.
The BBC added that the PSNI said would be “inappropriate to provide any comment at this time” as “this matter remains subject to an internal investigation” while The Police Federation for Northern Ireland declined to comment.
Watch: Police celebrate Armagh All-Ireland win with laps of the road waving flags
A Federation spokesperson did acknowledge all the officers involved were receiving “advice, support, and assistance” and said “as the matter is still at the investigative stage no recommendations have been made yet for the PPS or anyone else to consider”.
The video which sparked the investigation was taken as GAA supporters gathered in Camlough, Co Armagh, to celebrate the country’s win over Galway in the All-Ireland final last month.
The viral footage showed a police car stopping to pick up a flag from fans and waving it from the window while lapping a roundabout in the village. The police vehicle then performed a U-turn at a junction,
It’s understood that two other officers are also under criminal and misconduct investigations, alleged to have activated emergency lights and sirens on their patrol cars during the celebrations for ‘a purpose other than their policing duties’.
All three community officers are suspected of failing to respect and obeying the law, and breaching service instruction and the code of ethics.
The BBC further reported that the officers were served misconduct papers by the Professional Standards Department (PSD) and had their driving cards removed on August 2, the day after chief constable Jon Boutcher addressed policing board concerns about the incident when he said: “Let me be crystal clear – no-one is being suspended, no-one is being sacked and no-one is being relocated.
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“However, nor do I support the actions of the officers. They did not act professionally or independently”.
The three officers have been invited to take part in interviews for the offence of careless driving and a file will subsequently be submitted to the PPS for their consideration, with once police source saying the criminal investigation is ‘extremely harsh’.
“We were all applauding the chief constable’s public display of support and common sense policing and then the next day three officers who have done a lot for community relations in a notoriously hard to reach area appeared to be ‘thrown under a bus’ in private,” the course told the BBC.
“It was actually quite shocking. We expected them to get reprimanded for their behaviour but this is extremely harsh.
“People are angry. It feels like political policing.”
A petition in South Armagh has gathered more than 4,000 signatures and is calling for all officers concerned to be “vindicated for their actions and immediately returned to front-line duties without punishment”.
The footage was praised by nationalist politicians as evidence of just how far community relations have come in south Armagh
SDLP MLA Justin McNulty said the officer’s actions were “a positive sign of the times” while Sinn Féin Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd said the PSNI officer “did more for community relations than any recruitment campaign” adding that the officer had “shown that he was part of the community, that he was involved with his community, and that he wanted to be part of that community’s celebrations.”
But Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie described the incident as “naive and reckless” while TUV leader and North Antrim MP Jim Allister said it was visible evidence that independent, impartial policing “had gone out the window” and reported the incident to the police ombudsman.
DUP leader Gavin Robinson said there was a “need to reaffirm confidence in the PSNI’s impartiality, integrity, and professional standards”.