PSNI Puts Ulster Poles as Piggies in the Middle

national | racism & migration related issues | feature Tuesday February 20, 2007 01:20 by Mackozer

an immigrant Pole asks 6 county Polish immigrants to think twice before joining the PSNI

PSNI at Hillsborough April 2002

A Polish blogger and immigrant to Ireland warns of a British divide & conquer tactic in PSNI policing and recruitment efforts....

Mackozer writes: 'For many Poles, joining the police would be an excellent job opportunity, especially for former Polish police officers. They could join the PSNI and receive at least 4 times better salary than in Poland....

[Polish immigrants recruited into the PSNI] would be regarded as alien mercenaries used by British government to show the world that they fulfill the obligations of the 50–50 policy. This can be devastating for the assimilation and integration of Polish people into the Irish society of Northern Ireland. This 'job opportunity' can put all Polish people of Northern Ireland as a piggy in the middle - between two sides of the conflict - and face discrimination from both of them.'

Quote: ''Once a pool of qualified candidates has been formed, the Chief Constable will then appoint trainees on the basis of 50 per cent Roman Catholic and 50 per cent non-Roman Catholic.'' - PSNI

Related Links: RSF says Polish mercenaries not welcome / Last October: Racist attacks on Poles in Finglas / more immigrant news: indymedia.ie/migration / Also see: Free Derry Museum - a Review

For more than two years now thousands of Poles have been emigrating to Ireland - including the six counties of Ulster. We Poles are not a peaceful and gentle nation by our nature, so sometimes we have and we still can cause some troubles with local people. Fortunately, most of the Irish are tolerant and remember their own years of exile.

Since the beginning of our 'Polish flood' my compatriots have been facing some dislike in the Northern Ireland. About year ago Polish and Irish newspapers started to report attacks (sometimes armed with weapons) on the Polish community. According to the police almost all the troublemakers were linked with Loyalists. A majority of Poles are Catholic so with the new Polish immigration the total number of Catholics in the North is growing. Perhaps it is only a short term trend, but whether we like it or not, it does have an impact on many Loyalists.

To be honest, most of us Poles in the North know nothing or very little about the conflict, and very often are confused by the situation here. There are stories about Poles wearing Celtic Glasgow t-shirts walking on the streets or even renting a house in the Loyalist districts of towns. Sometimes it has ended with somebody setting the house on fire that was inhabited by Polish emigrants, such as almost a year ago in Belfast.

Fortunately, so far, the Catholic community, or - so called - nationalist community in the North hasn't shown any serious dislike for the Poles. There have not been any attacks reported or any serious troubles.

In the past I had wondered to myself if the dislike and the attacks committed by Loyalist troublemakers could push Poles to the Irish nationalist side of the barricade and thus the 'Lá' would be also ours and come for Poles as for the Irish.

Nowadays, I am sure this would not happen due to the recent attempt to recruit 1000 Polish immigrants into the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

The new police force in the North is at least partly a descendant of the infamous RUC. Due to the agreement between all sides of conflict, PSNI has to consist of the same number of Protestants and Catholics, but since it's foundation the number of Catholics has been relatively low. There have been many reasons for that. I think the most important is the lack of confidence in the new force. For many nationalists the PSNI is just a continuance of Royal Ulster Constabulary, or at least it is still a British colonial force. I can understand that, especially after the famous case of RUC collusion with some criminals of UVF. There was also a question of connections and co-operation between PSNI and British intelligence MI5.

In the weeks before Sinn Fein's decision to take part in the PSNI and almost the same time of the publication of Nuala O'Loan's report, Irish and Polish newspapers reported recruitment campaign of 1000 Poles for Northern Irish police. What shocked me most was the use of religion in the context of policing. In some Irish media I read that employing Poles would raise an overall PSNI percentage of Catholics (21% at present) and would be taken as a fulfilling the agreement.

For many Poles, joining the police would be an excellent job opportunity, especially for former Polish police officers. They could join the PSNI and receive at least 4 times better salary than in Poland. The need to employ Poles in the PSNI is understandable as there are 30,000 new Polish immigrants in the North. However, the number of Polish officers must only be appropriate to the needs and size of Polish community.

Employing Poles due to the lack of Irish Catholic officers in the police service could actually do harm to the Polish population. We are a foreign element, not linked to the problems, memories and sensitivities of the local Catholic communities. In my opinion, Polish PSNI officers cannot be a good representatives of Irish Catholics in the North and they probably will not be a regarded as one of 'our people' by them.

Poles in Northern Ireland would be regarded as alien mercenaries used by British government to show the world that they fulfill the obligations of the 50–50 policy. This can be devastating for the assimilation and integration of Polish people into the Irish society of Northern Ireland. This 'job opportunity' can put all Polish people of Northern Ireland as a piggy in the middle - between two sides of the conflict - and face discrimination from both of them.

- Krystian 'Mackozer' Kozerawski

Dzienniki Irlandzkie MacKozer’a
www.eire.drakkart.com (blog in Polish)
Two blog posts written to Ulster Poles about the PSNI:
   • 'Polacy w policji północnoirlandzkiej?' (PART 1)
      http://www.drakkart.com/eire/?p=71
   • 'Polacy w policji północnoirlandzkiej - ciąg dalszy' (PART 2)
      http://www.drakkart.com/eire/?p=73

Ireland from a Polish perspective
www.drakkart.com/eire2 (blog in English)