This is a new form of communication for me but as I embark on it I am hopeful that it can become a place where I can share my thoughts on policing issues (and other subjects) here in Northern Ireland. Please give me time. Everyone has to start somewhere. So where to start? Well, September saw the beginning of a new stage for the Police Service with the arrival of our new Chief Constable, Matt Baggott. I for one was delighted to welcome him to his office, ending a short but nevertheless hectic period for me as Acting Chief Constable.
And while in that role, I continued to listen as policing was discussed and debated in many forums. I understand the fundamental human need to feel safe. I am a wife and mother, a homeowner, I am part of my local community. I understand that people want to feel safe at home, at work, in their local communities and neighbourhoods. That is what I want - for my children, my family, my friends, my community and for myself.
I recognise that policing has a central role to play in increasing people's safety and security. That is what we are working to deliver. The next question is where do we go from here?
Numerous challenges face us. I recognise that a central part of our service is a visible and personal policing presence in neighbourhoods but I would challenge what that presence should look like. I believe that it is about more than officers on the beat, about more than being seen. I believe that we owe it to our communities to ensure that our officers are tasked to deal with the issues affecting their areas. It is about listening, understanding, and importantly delivering. Being purely visible isn't enough. We need to ensure we are busy doing the right things and that we are organised to deliver the best possible service we can.
I believe we can do that. We are up for delivering this, our new Chief Constable is committed to delivering this. People need to tell us what they want, but they also need to help us prioritise, let us know what is important to them and work in partnership with us to address it. But that is another story for another day. There is much to debate and much to do. I look forward to it.
Deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie
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Hi Judith, I would like to congratulate you on your promotion and I have every confidence that you will make a tremendous contribution towards the smooth induction of the newly appointed Chief Constable. Good luck for the future when the Assembly finally take on the full responsibility of Policing and Justice. I continue to support the PSNI in their work and their efforts to raise confidence in the community whilst maintaining a proportionate amount of authority. I look forward to the future as a DPP member and wish you all well in the coming months. Ita McErlean Vice Chair Ballymena DPP.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on showing your willingness to embrace this form of communication and openness.
ReplyDeleteI hope to engage you in polite but potentially searching questions on policing. I hope that you will receive and answer my questions in good faith.
So to start, here is my first question. Given the recent internal report on policing strategy and the content of that report being reported widely as undermining current police management, why is it that despite the seemingly self critical nature of the report it has not resulted in substantial changes in management personnel and why is the report not been made public?
Hello
ReplyDeleteDo you really believe that the on the spot fines ( tickets) for certain offences will be accepted by the general public? People with certain medical conditions can exibit unusual behavior which may lead officers to wrongly assume the person to be drunk/disorderly/abusive. I know from personal experience this is the case. An MS suffer was wrongly accused of being in a drunken state by a bar manager and led to the MS sufferer being humiliated. Will your officers be given proper training to identify illness rather than unacceptable behaviour? Will a sufferer of an illness have to undergo further humiliation trying to explain to an officer that their condition is the cause of the behavior or will they be expected to accept the blame and just pay up?
With the increased threat from dissident republicans does it not make operational sense to retain the Fulltime Reserve?
ReplyDeleteIn response to copshop. Policing in Northern Ireland has achieve a lot in the 10 years since the Patten Commission reported in 1999. It has achieved broad community support, driven crime down, and is increasingly reflective of the community it serves, both in religious and gender composition.
ReplyDeleteThe focus of the Strategic Review has been on the type of policing service we aspire to deliver in order to meet the future needs of the public, and how these demands translate into the strategic changes we must now make. It was not intended to find fault, rather to build on success of the past and on what we have already achieved.
Although it is currently a restricted document, it has been shared with a number of others including the Northern Ireland Policing Board, Northern Ireland Office and our Staff Associations. Support for the reasoning and work of the Review has been positive.
This report will shortly be made public, but as with all organisations it will take time to implement and embed major change.
Promotion:
ReplyDeleteI write to you regarding the promotion processes related to senior management within the PSNI. It has recently come to my attention that a number of senior police officers, particularly at the rank of Chief Superintendent were promoted to their current posts, including one to the post of District Commander despite not making the 'grade', during their promotion process and the outgoing Chief Constable announced their promotion as what maybe described as a passing gift during a social function in 2009. Does this not lead one to believe that senior management figures are appointed regardless of their failure in promotion processes, and that by allowing such ad hoc promotions to be made, it may be said that the promotion of senior management within the psni is more to do with social connections than ability. How can the public have faith in a police service were internal networking apparently means more than a the actual promotion processes in place.
I welcome all comments but I cannot answer all individual questions, particularly those relating to individual circumstances.
ReplyDeleteI would be grateful if you could fully explain the term 'Community Policing' and precisely how officers in such roles are expected to conduct their roles. Do the PSNI have a clear policy of directional community policing which determines how community policing is to be implemented. There have been many recent statements that community policing is to be to the fore within the PSNI however no apparent specifics on how it is to be implemented. I note for example that officers from York Road station availed of a weekend trip to POlnad in recent times. Are such trips etc part of the police strategy and ultimately does this not take officers from their policing role and narrow their availability in engaging the wider community? How are such trips costed? Do they come from the policing budget and if so would it not be more expedient and beneficial to the community as a whole to invest the cost of such trips in a broader manner including accessing the local service providers and thus feeding the costs incurred back into the local community.
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