Graduation day

I had the pleasure on Friday afternoon, past, to convene the graduation of 53 men and women and witness their attestation as Constables in the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

I felt a great sense of pride as I joined with hundreds of family members, friends and colleagues to share in this very special day. Young men, and women, from across geographical boundaries, community backgrounds and nationalities. People who had taken the decision to serve their community, and the people of Northern Ireland, through the very honourable profession of Policing.

As Convening Officer I have the privilege to be one of the first to address our very latest Constables. I took the opportunity to congratulate them but also to reinforce the need to make every encounter with the public personal and professional, to treat people as they would wish to be treated themselves – to use every opportunity to demonstrate that the Police Service of Northern Ireland can become the finest personal, professional and protective police service in the world.

These men and women have now joined the ranks of an organisation which has a critical and influential part to play in strengthening community support for policing and I have absolutely no doubt that they are totally up for it.

In a few weeks time these officers will be patrolling your streets and communities as your local police officers trying to get a sense of what is important to you and what makes you feel safe and this can only be achieved by your consistent support, as we work together towards a safe, confident and peaceful Northern Ireland.

Debating Policing and Justice

It was my pleasure to visit the Presbyterian General Assembly earlier this week, at the invitation of the Moderator, to take part in a panel debate on Policing and Justice along with the Minister of Justice, David Ford, acting Chair of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, Brian Rea, and the Director of Probation Brian McCaughey.

This was a fantastic opportunity to engage with around 300 people, of all ages, from across Northern Ireland on important issues such as dealing with anti social behaviour, resourcing the policing service, improvements to the criminal justice system and the priority of policing in relation to other important services like health and education.

During the course of the evening the audience asked the panel a broad range of very challenging questions and expressed their views of what they expected and required from their Police Service and the other agencies and departments represented.

The one thing that was clear is that there was very strong support for the rule of law and for a Police Service which listens and is responsive to the needs of the community.

Our intention is very clear. We want to be a Police Service which is personal, impartial, focused, visible and in the heart of, and working with, the community to make a difference and to prevent harm, protect from danger and to inspire confidence.

We know that we will be judged not on what we say but on what we do, but to get it right we need the full and unequivocal support from individuals across Northern Ireland, and where we get this support I have no doubt that we can deliver the service you quite rightly expect and require.

Personal, impartial and accountable policing

‘Personal, impartial and accountable police officers and staff, present and influential in the heart of all communities, in the right numbers to make a difference’.

As we prepare to police the parades over the next few months, we have again asked for the full support of the elected representatives and influential people across our communities.

Solving difficult issues in consultation and with the help, co-operation and assistance of the community is the very essence of Policing with the Community.

Whilst Neighbourhood Policing Teams have a critical role to play, policing with the community is in fact a core function of every police officer regardless of their individual role.

Neighbourhood Policing is not about how we police but where we police with a specific purpose of delivering the right people, at the right places and in the right numbers, in order to create safer, confident and peaceful neighbourhoods.

It is about the police listening to, understanding the issues that matter most, and working together with the community and other statutory and voluntary bodies to tackle them. Policing is not for the police alone, and often we are only part of the solution longer term.

We have over the past few months been developing and consulting with a number of critical friends, on a set of Policing with the Community Commitments. These will be a series of commitments aimed at clearly outlining to the public the minimum standard of police response which can be expected. Further consultation will be required, but once these are finalised they will be published.

In the meantime we will continue to strive to deliver personal, professional and protective Policing with the Community by engaging with and listening to local communities and by providing them with access to named local police, influence over policing priorities and delivering partnership interventions.

Despite all the challenges and pressures we routinely face, this is an area of policing which is not negotiable.