Member's statement: PSNI: Incident in Downpatrick

Member's statement by Mr Trevor Clarke on 1 June 2026.

MLA

Mr Trevor Clarke

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

1 June 2026

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

PSNI: Incident in Downpatrick

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5580786

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, police officers go out to protect our communities across the Province. Twenty-four hours a day, they do so without fear or favour in every community that they visit. From the events that we saw unfold in the early hours of Sunday morning, however, it is clear that some people had other intentions: to harm our police officers. My thoughts are with the police officer who was injured in that heinous attack and with his colleague, who, I am sure, was concerned about his partner in the early hours of that morning. It looks as if the officers were responding to something in the vicinity. As we have now seen on social media and other platforms, someone then got into their police car and used it as a weapon against the officer. All police officers and all right-thinking people will stand in solidarity with that officer today over his use of a firearm to protect himself and others in the community. We now hear noise and rumblings from people who are asking, "How did they get into the police car? How were they able to drive it off?". Those questions are irrelevant. Everyone should put themselves in the position of the two officers out in the heat of the moment of an incident to apprehend someone who was obviously up to no good. The last thing on their minds would have been to lock the police car and check the doors before making off after the individuals. I have no concern about the officers' behaviour in relation to the car. They were responding in the heat of the moment to an incident, and they did so in a timely manner. What I do not like is someone then deciding to get into the car and use it as a weapon against the police officers. Questions have been asked about the length of sentences in the judicial system. While some of us believe that sentences are lenient, it is open to our courts to use the maximum on the scale. I hope that, in this case, when any individuals are brought before the courts, the judge sends a clear signal by using the maximum sentence available. We need to send a clear message that it is unacceptable to attack our security forces or public workers or, for that matter, anyone. No one should be attacked for doing their job. I hope that, when the case goes to court, the full rigour of the law will be applied to the individuals involved in the incident.

429 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:42 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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