THE HEAD OF the PSNI has said that the requirement for the force to commit significant resources each year to the investigation of events that happened “over 30 or 40 years ago” is hampering its ability to deal more effectively with modern-day issues.

Matt Baggott was speaking in the context of reports that the talks team chaired by US envoy Richard Haass is proposing the establishment of a single investigative body to look into crimes that took place during The Troubles. It’s understood the move would entail bringing together the work currently carried out by the PSNI team, the Police Ombudsman and possibly the Northern Ireland Coroners Courts.

Asked about the issue at a meeting in Dublin today, Chief Constable Matt Baggot said it was “a matter for politicians to resolve” before going on to highlight potential positive consequences for the force if resources could be freed up.

“At the moment the consequences of dealing with the past are inevitably hindering our ability to deal with the present,” Baggott said. “We spend £27 million out of a finite budget investigating events of over 30 or 40 years ago.”

That’s my legal responsibility and I absolutely understand the needs of victims’ families to find out what happened and for justice, but there is a consequence for an organisation dealing with organised crime, terrorism and public order problems of having a significant investigative effort still rooted in event s 30 or 40 years ago.

We wish the efforts of Richard Haass and the politicians every success in these deliberations — they’re very important.

Baggott met with his Garda counterpart Martin Callinan, along with the justice ministers of both jurisdictions today to discuss the current security situation and ongoing cooperation between the two police services.

Additional reporting, Ronán Duffy.

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