Wear it Pink

Tomorrow (29 October) the Police Service is supporting the Breast Cancer campaign 'Wear it Pink’.

Every year, thousands of loved ones are affected by breast cancer. Having lost somebody very special to me through Cancer, I am delighted that all across the Service, police officers and staff are wearing something pink in support of this very worthy cause.

Obviously police officers, in uniform, will be limited as to the degree of their pinkness Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK and accounts for nearly one in three of all cancers in women.

At around 12,000 deaths annually, it is the second biggest cause of death from cancer of women. Alarmingly one woman in nine will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.

But did you know that men can also suffer from breast cancer and, although it is rare, almost 300 men (in the UK) are diagnosed each year and around 90 men a year die from breast cancer.

The good news is that survival rates for breast cancer have improved significantly over the last 20 years and the most recent figures show around 80 per cent of women in the UK diagnosed today will be alive in five years time.

The increased survival rate is largely due to increased awareness of breast cancer, the introduction of the screening program and the successes of breast cancer research, which have led to improved treatments that are now available.

This is just one example of the long tradition of very generous charitable giving by the Police Service of Northern Ireland. In fact very recently we won a National Pay Roll Giving Excellence Award in recognition of the number of police officers and staff who donate monthly to a nominated charity of their choice.

You won't often read about the generosity of police officers and staff in the media, but just as we tangibly deliver a police service every day of the week, in the background we also financially support those who need help and support of a different nature.

So I hope tomorrow you will join with your Police Service, family members, friends and colleagues to 'Wear it Pink’.

Engaging with local communities

With my daily commitments, regrettably I don’t get the opportunity to get out and about and meet members of the public as often as I’d like to.

However, last night (Thursday) I was in Craigavon, which is a busy and challenging policing environment, to meet with members of the local District Policing and Community Safety Partnerships.

Members were there at the invitation of the local District Commander, Chief Superintendent Alasdair Robinson, to hear more about the challenges of delivering a personal, professional and protective policing service on a daily basis.

Perhaps one of the most impactive presentations of the evening was a snap shot of the late duty shift (4.00pm – 12.00midnight) on 22 February 2010. It would take too long to rehearse every detail but during this time police officers across ‘E’ district (Armagh, Banbridge, Newry and Mourne and Craigavon) were dealing with 93 different incidents. In fact, across Northern Ireland in the same shift there were 581 incidents – that’s just over one reported incident every minute.

Within ‘E’ District these ranged from reports of antisocial behaviour, six people missing, thefts, suspicious vehicles, road traffic collisions, a substantial illicit drugs factory – and in the background, the district call management centre were carefully considering and prioritising each call to ensure an appropriate level of response based on the risk to the caller and the risk to the police officers attending.

In the middle of everything else that was going on, at around 10.00pm, a bomb call was received to Newry Court House and immediately, significant resources needed to be reprioritised to deal with this incident. At 10.37pm the bomb exploded whilst police were still clearing the area.

What the Commander, and his colleagues, had to say last night was important - but the purpose of the evening was as much about listening to the representatives present.

We fully acknowledge the importance of listening to you and your elected and community representatives –after all policing is a partnership. As we move towards considering our policing plan for next year in partnership with the Policing Board, we need to consider what you see as your policing priorities and concerns for the year ahead. We also need to listen, learn and act when your experience of policing falls short of your expectations.

We face challenges daily in every district across Northern Ireland. However, I have used the example from E District to illustrate the diversity of incidents which may occur.

We want to deliver a quality police service for everyone – and we will continue to work hard to do that, in spite of all of the challenges we face.

Your support and assistance is critical to making sure that we work effectively, which in turn allows us to have the right people in the right place at the right time to deliver the personal, professional and protective police service that you quite rightly require and deserve.

For the next generation

Last week I joined with young people, parents and teachers, at LismoreCollege, to celebrate the academic success of the future generation of Derry.

As I addressed those present, I spoke about their future opportunities and their aspirations for a City which has so much to offer.

On Tuesday morning, terrorists once again attempted to shatter that future. In the early hours, police officers worked against the clock to make sure residents and visitors to the City were kept safe from the actions of those who yet again showed a complete and total disregard for the safety of others.

Thankfully the two police officers who were caught up in the blast were not badly injured, no thanks to those whose reckless intentions were only ever going to kill, maim or destroy.

The damage caused to tourism and investment in the City is difficult to measure. The money required to repair the damage will probably run into millions; money that will not now be available to reinvest back into the local area which so badly needs it.

As I listened to the words of condemnation from local people, visitors, elected representatives and business owners it is so difficult to understand why people, no doubt some of whom live in the City, would inflict this terror and misery on their own doorstep, when there is so clearly no appetite for it from the vast majority of local people.

The police officers who stepped out to save life on Tuesday morning in Derry didn’t stop to ask people who or what they were and nor do they, as they go about delivering a personal, professional and protective policing service every day across Northern Ireland.

Your Police Service continues to work tirelessly, night and day, to bring those responsible for such actions to account. I know that there are people who are aware or suspect who these people are and this information is critical.

Once again, I appeal for your support. Help us before another life is lost and another community shattered.

Nobody deserves this. If you don’t do it for yourself, then do it for the next generation.