JIM Gamble, the safeguarding expert reviewing what the DUP knew about Jeffrey Donaldson, has said any evidence of potential crimes he uncovers “will be reported directly to the police in the appropriate jurisdiction, not raised first with the DUP”.

While that is good to know, it should happen in Northern Ireland anyway.

Unlike in the rest of the UK, it is an offence here to know or believe you have information on a serious crime and not report it. Serious is defined as punishable by five years or more in prison, and the punishment for not reporting is imprisonment for a similar period. You must contact the police in a reasonable time, or have a reasonable excuse not to do so. Taking a few days to check your information would be considered reasonable. Running it past the DUP first would not.

Mr Gamble’s remark raises the question of why other reviews, investigations and inquiries, by private and public bodies, almost never go to the PSNI as soon as they uncover potential wrongdoing. Inquiries frequently consider information on abuse, injury, fraud, theft, misconduct in public office and other serious offences. Yet even damning final reports, often years in the making, are rarely followed by anyone dialling 999.

Noel Doran: The Jeffrey Donaldson I saw in south Down

Fabien McQuillan: The Portaferry tractor man and the day-trip of doom

One explanation commonly offered is that police would be swamped with complex allegations, only a fraction of which they could hope to investigate. For fraud in particular, it is better to let companies, officials and watchdogs try to recover the money. While that may be true, it is not a reason allowed by the law.

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East Timorese people in Dungannon have stopped engaging with the police due to an anti-immigration banner in nearby Moygashel. The PSNI revealed this at a court hearing into the separate issue of East Timorese gang infighting - although both issues are becoming entangled, as police struggle........

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