Responding to comments by outgoing Chief Constable Matt Baggott TUV Comber councillor and former UDR soldier Stephen Cooper said:
“Regarding Troubles-related murders as some sort of special category of murder is one of the chief flaws of the so-called peace process. There is no difference between a murder committed before 1998 and one committed last week. Both are equally heinous. Both are morally and ethically wrong. Both leave grieving families and loved ones. Both deserve to be investigated by the police and those responsible brought to justice before the courts.
“The Belfast Agreement with its early release scheme allowed terrorists to claim that they were different from others who served time due to the special treatment which they received. That was wrong. It’s equally wrong for the outgoing Chief Constable to suggest that the PSNI should stop any efforts to bring terrorists who never served a day in jail before the courts.
“Convictions such as the one for the murder of Constable Proctor prove that terrorists can be brought to justice even many years after the event. The relief of Constable Proctor’s family following the guilty verdict demonstrated that the vast majority of victims still long for a day in court and a time when they will see those who killed and maimed behind bars.
“While the Chief Constable claims that he doesn’t want to see the needs of justice or victims taken away it is obvious that when you remove some crimes from the ambit of the PSNI they are being treated differently.
“The Haass process, which is commended by Mr Baggott, has the potential to subvert the entire concept of justice in Northern Ireland and has already been rejected by most victims.
“Those who continue discussing Dr Haass’s proposals need to be honest with people and admit that what the outgoing Chief Constable is suggesting amounts to supporting the Haass proposals.
“The simple truth which needs to be faced up to by the police and the political establishment is that if you cannot investigate bombings and shootings without negative impacting upon the political process then there is something fundamentally rotten at the heart of that political process.
“Murder, where it was committed in 1994 or 2014, should always be investigated by the police with all evidential avenues exhausted.”