Member's statement: K9 Search and Rescue
Member's statement by Mr Peter Martin on .
- MLA
- Mr Peter Martin
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 14 April 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- K9 Search and Rescue
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5481989
Read the official Assembly record
Text
On Friday 27 March, Ryan Gray, a volunteer with K9 Search and Rescue, and his search dog, Max, were attacked by a group of 15 to 20 youths in Bangor. The police said the incident began after a verbal exchange, when the youths launched a vicious assault on Ryan and Max. Ryan suffered a fractured eye socket, loss of teeth and facial injuries that required hospital treatment. Max was kicked several times and left shaken. One 13-year-old boy and two 15-year-old boys were charged with ABH, which is very serious, and a 16-year-old girl was charged with affray and common assault. I have worked with Ryan and the wider K9 team, which provided me with a fluffy K9 search dog, which sits on the desk in my office upstairs. The assault was completely unprovoked and completely unacceptable. Ryan, the wider K9 team and its chair, Joanne Dorrian, know that they have my full support and the support of my party. Recently, the Justice Minister's party colleague the Alliance MLA for North Antrim tabled an amendment to the Justice Bill that would raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14, meaning that one of the boys would not even be charged with a serious offence. That is wrong. It does not support the victims of crime; in fact, it will erode confidence in the justice system. I have a son in P6 who is 10. He knows the difference between right and wrong and that actions always have consequences. In conclusion, I make it clear to folk who wish to support Ryan and Max that a GoFundMe page has been established: if you want to donate to that, you can look it up online. My thoughts remain with that amazing charity and with Ryan and Max. I hope that they both recover fully from the injuries that they suffered that night in a vicious and unprovoked assault.
317 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.10 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.06 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.05 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.08 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.08 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.41 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.10 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.54 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.42 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.02 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:17 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.