PSNI: Chief Constable meets Ulster GAA

As thousands of GAA fans took to the streets to celebrate Armagh’s all-Ireland football victory, social media footage went viral showing a PSNI officer lapping a Camlough roundabout in his patrol car before stopping to pick up a flag from cheering fans which he waved out the window while driving.

The officer then performed a U-turn in the road at a junction.

Other police vehicles were seen driving through the village with emergency lights and sirens activated.

The footage was commended by some nationalist politicians as evidence of just how far community relations have come in a Republican area once considered so hostile to the authorities, it was policed from heavily reinforced watch towers and the skies.

Others like then-Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie condemned the incident as both “naive and reckless”.

TUV leader and North Antrim MP Jim Allister said it was visible evidence that independent, impartial policing “had gone out the window” and he was reporting the incident to the police ombudsman.

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said he had left Mr Boutcher in “no doubt” of the “need to reaffirm confidence in the PSNI’s impartiality, integrity, and professional standards”.