PSNI Chief Constable Notes ‘Challenge’ in Sustaining Derry Policing Operation

The chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has stated that maintaining a policing operation designed to offer increased protection for women in Londonderry, following two reported assaults, will present “a challenge”. On Friday evening, a woman in Drumahoe was assaulted at knifepoint. The following day, Saturday afternoon, another woman walking her dog in Top of the Hill was approached by a man armed with a kitchen knife. Following these reported incidents, additional police officers were deployed across the city. Jon Boutcher informed a Policing Board meeting on Thursday, stating, “In simple terms we threw the kitchen sink at this and we continue to do so.” He added, “The period that we can continue to do that is a challenge.” Mr. Boutcher characterized the two incidents that occurred in the city over the weekend as “both extremely unusual and violent attacks.” Earlier, PSNI Chief Superintendent Gillian Kearney, who holds the highest-ranking police position in Derry, indicated that the police’s operational response—encompassing heightened patrols in the city’s center and parks—would persist for “as long as it has to”. Both weekend assaults took place in public parks within the Waterside area, with the locations of the incidents separated by approximately 2.5 miles. Sinn Féin Councillor Sandra Duffy, a member of the local Policing and Community Safety Partnership, previously informed BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today that women were taking photographs of taxis before entering them, sharing their location with friends while walking, and organizing self-defense classes. She conveyed that a “real feeling of fear right across the city” was prevalent. Justice Minister Naomi Long had also previously stated that people felt distressed and angry after the attacks, and that women were “terrified”. Long remarked, “It’s unthinkable that women in this day and age can’t walk about in their own community, can’t go and do basic things without being under the threat of this kind of violence.” She continued, “We have got to tackle this epidemic of violence in our society targeted at women and girls.” She further added, “We have got to start tackling those attitudes and that culture that treats women’s lives as though they are expendable.”