A day of contrast

Tuesday was a day of contrasting opportunities to visit local communities in the morning and colleagues undergoing training in the afternoon.

In the morning I visited the Dunmurry Neighbourhood Policing Team and went out on patrol with them in Dunmurry village and also in the Colin area of West Belfast.

Firstly I visited the Dunmurry Community Association at Fullerton Park where I heard first hand, from Billy Thompson, about the fantastic initiatives which members of the local community, in partnership with police, are pioneering to help local young people and provide them with activities to keep them safe and divert them away from criminality and anti social behaviour.

I am always amazed and greatly inspired by the work of volunteers who have a heart for their local community and choose to give freely of their time to make things better for others.

I then had the opportunity to meet with local community, political and council representatives, members from Community Restorative Justice Ireland (CRJI) and statutory service providers at an informal meeting at the offices of CRJI on the Colinglen Road, Belfast.

It was fantastic to hear about how these individuals and their organisations, are working together with local police to help make the local community feel, and keep, safer and to help local communities deal with those issues that really matter to them. The transformation in relationships between the police and the community is quite remarkable and I applaud those both within the community and the police who have pushed the boundaries and taken risks to build that trust and confidence which is so clearly making a difference.

From Dunmurry I headed to Ballykinler in County Down where I joined colleagues who were undertaking public order training. The purpose of the day was to allow multiple public order units to train together in readiness for any situation they might encounter in the future.

There were a number of observers from other agencies present, including the Police Ombudsman’s Office, Learning Advisory Council, Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), Fire Service and the Home Office. The MPS and Home Office representatives were particularly interested to see how our tactics, including less lethal options such as water cannon and the deployment of attenuating energy projectiles (AEPs or baton rounds).

The exercises take place in the tactical village and is a safe learning environment to train for a variety of scenarios from peaceful protests, to public disorder with a ballistic threat. It allows us to ensure that when we do have to respond to public disorder, that we have the ability to deliver a flexible, gradual, proportionate and professional response to the situation.

I am always very impressed by the courage and restraint of PSNI officers who show professionalism in the face of often serious and sustained violence towards them.

Whether on the streets of Dunmurry or West Belfast delivering policing with the community, or keeping communities safe in the face of actual or potential public disorder, your police service works tirelessly 24/7 to ensure that everyone receives personal, professional and protective policing.

I thank those of you who continually work with us to achieve this goal and encourage you to continue to do so. It is very clearly making a difference.

Policing in Armagh

Earlier this week I had the privilege of spending some time with officers and staff in South Armagh and in Armagh City. It is always very encouraging to see first hand how personal, professional and protective policing is being delivered locally.

I was greatly encouraged by the examples of how police are pushing the boundaries locally, engaging with the community and how the community is embracing local policing.

The only way that policing can be truly effective, is with the support and involvement of local communities. I very much applaud those who have taken risks to support local policing initiatives.

I was also able to visit Lisanally Special School in Armagh City with members of the local Neighbourhood Policing Team. I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet with Mrs Sandra Flynn, the Principal, staff members and pupils, learning about their facilities and curriculum, but I especially enjoyed a visit to a Home Economics class and some freshly cooked potato wedges!

The teachers and staff are truly inspirational people with a very clear desire and passion to see the children and young people achieve their very best potential in life. When you have the opportunity to meet with special people like this, it brings a lot of things into perspective.

The visit was a great opportunity for me, but unfortunately because of the responsibilities of my role, it doesn't happen often enough. But it is important that I take the time to see first hand how the policing vision is translating into reality in our local communities.

I am rarely disappointed by the lengths to which officers and staff are going, and the determination they have to ensure that every single community can have a policing service which they desire and deserve.

Crime statistics released

The 2011/12 Police Service of Northern Ireland Crime Statistics were published today.

 

The statistics are available in full on the PSNI website at www.psni.police.uk  but the key findings are:-

 

1. There were 103,389 recorded crimes - a reduction of 1,651 recorded crimes (-1.6%).
2. The number of crimes recorded is the lowest since the new Home Office counting rules were introduced in 1998/99.
3. The number of victims of sexual offences, robbery, burglary, fraud & forgery and criminal damage have reduced.
4. The number of violence against the person, some theft and drug offences increased.
5. The overall detection (clearance) rate in 2011/12 decreased by 1.0 percentage point from 27.3% in 2010/11 to 26.3% in 2011/12.
6. Reports of domestic abuse increased by 11.1%
7. Reports of hate crimes and incidents decreased across all recorded categories - sectarian, racist, homophobic, transphobic, faith, disabilist.

As with any recorded statistics there is always some good news and some not so good news. It is important to acknowledge that the good news is as a direct result of the community working with their Police Service in their delivery of personal, professional and protective policing.

 

You have my commitment that our determination to continue to tackle crime and deal with those issues that matter most to you will be relentless.

 

In the figures there is a reported reduction of 1% in the detection or clearance rate and this could be easily interpreted as fewer crimes cleared. In fact, whilst we would always aspire to make more detections, this figure does not take into account the additional 3% detected but dealt with by Discretionary disposals, this equates to almost 3,000 disposals for crimes.

 

These are crimes that are comparatively minor by virtue of the impact and/or seriousness and where the victim and offender agree on a suitable form of reparation such as an apology, reparation or some other form of restorative outcome.

 

This may at times appear to some be a 'soft option', but the delivery of a speedy outcome has led to increased satisfaction levels amongst victims of crime. This type of disposal is not currently included in the counting rules, otherwise our detection rate would have been around 29%.

 

Whilst the Police Service of Northern Ireland take some comfort from certain areas of performance, there is absolutely no room for complacency and we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that we continue to tackle serious harm, detect those responsible and keep communities safer.

 

 

 

Appeal for information following the death of Bertie Acheson

I was appalled and deeply saddened by the death of 72 year old Bertie Acheson in Coleraine on Monday past.

Mr Acheson was at home with his wife in the early hours of Monday morning when a person broke into their home and assaulted Mr Acheson, before threatening his wife, Sheila. I cannot even begin to imagine the sense of loss which Sheila must be feeling at this time. My thoughts and prayers are very much with her and the family at this very difficult and traumatic time. Mr Acheson has been described as a good man, living quietly and caring for his wife of 44 years. He lost his life for the sake of £375.

The local community are shocked and understandably upset and angry at what has happened to Mr Acheson and his wife. I know that they will want to help the police in whatever way possible to catch the person responsible. Every shred of information is important no matter how insignificant it might appear and I would appeal to anyone who thinks that they have information which might help the investigation team to make this available as quickly as possible. Better to have a piece of information and rule it out than perhaps be missing that critical link.

We must catch the person who did this and we will do everything within our power to do so – we owe it to Mr Acheson and his wife Sheila.

I can understand why other older people may now be feeling vulnerable in their homes. It will be no consolation to the Acheson family whatsoever to know that crimes of this type are extremely rare. But if you are concerned and would like some advice or reassurance please contact your local police and we will be very happy to assist and advise you. There is also some information on the Crime Prevention pages of our website at www.psni.police.uk/crime-prevention.htm

But if you think that you can help us to catch the person responsible for Mr Atcheson’s death you can call the special incident room at Coleraine on 028 7028 0987 or alternatively Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.