Omagh shooting: police federation head warns officers to look after their personal security

The body which represents the police in Northern Ireland has warned all officers to re-examine their personal security following the gun attack on a senior detective in Omagh on Wednesday.

The Chair of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, Liam Kelly, said the “reality now for all our officers, particularly more junior colleagues who probably never experienced anything like this before, is they need to take stock and reassess their own personal security and their activities on and off duty.”

Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell, who was a volunteer soccer coach, was shot multiple times by two gunmen as he packed footballs into the boot of his car following a youth training session. His young son was with him and witnessed the attack on his father.

The senior detective was in a stable but critical condition in hospital on Thursday.

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The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) main line of inquiry is that dissident republicans were responsible, with a “primary focus” on the New IRA.

The PSNI said it continues to review security arrangements in the wake of the attack, as it does on an ongoing basis.

Mr Kelly said the “shockwave through the service is still reverberating” following the attack on DCI Caldwell and it was a “stark reminder that policing in Northern Ireland is a dangerous job and it does carry extreme risks for all our officers, both on and off duty.”

He said that the “vast majority” of recent attacks on police officers had occurred while on duty, and this was the first time a police officer had been shot while off duty in some time.

“What we saw before Christmas in Derry City and Strabane was a bit of an upsurge in [dissident republican] activity where we had officers attacked on duty and we also had an explosive device left outside a police station, but this takes it to a completely different level.

“A gun attack on an off-duty officer who’s involved in voluntary community work in front of kids and families, and in fact his own son was present, it’s just barbaric.

“Police officers don’t take their personal security lightly,” said Mr Kelly. “Everything that anybody does in their own time carries with it some semblance of risk, but certainly the PSNI are very clear with their message about officers, about being aware of setting patterns and making sure that they take all precautions where possible.

“John Caldwell is a decent hard-working family man and he’s been involved in coaching kids for a number of years in that area, so the reality is he probably felt safe within that community and unfortunately the terrorists have taken advantage of that.”

They did so, he said, “probably with the understanding that with him going there and what he was doing [as a football coach] that he probably wouldn’t be armed, he wouldn’t be carrying his gun.

“Clearly this has been a well-planned attack,” he said. “Our officers are clearly mindful of such things happening and it’s a matter of deep regret that 25 years on from the signing of the Good Friday Agreement these attacks are still playing out on our streets.”

Mr Kelly appealed from support from the community to “please come forward and give any information that you can.

“Our colleagues in An Garda Síochána have committed to providing us with support and assistance in case there’s cross border involvement, which is very welcome as well,” he said.