Planning for the Northern Ireland Community Safety College

I spent the first part of yesterday morning in Cookstown, opening the Curriculum Conference for the Northern Ireland Community Safety College at Desertcreat.

Progress towards the delivery of our new College is gaining some serious momentum and we hope to conclude the procurement process early next year, with the award of the construction contract. 

I also had the opportunity last week to go to the Police training College at Garnerville in East Belfast, to meet with the people who have been given the task of developing and delivering the various strands of the new College. Individuals from the three services working side by side. 

Yesterday's conference was about discussing the important issues of how changing learning styles will impact how we train going forward, how training can meet future societal expectations and how we can deliver realistic and effective public safety training.  

Our partners in the College, the Fire and Rescue Service and Prison Service,  were also present and key to the new curriculum will be how we train together - which we are planning will be the rule rather than the exception. 

We have also been engaging locally, on a regular basis, to keep the people of Cookstown, and in particular those who live in close proximity to the site, fully advised of progress.   

I am really looking forward to watching how the delivery of our new College develops over the next few months.  This is probably one of the most exciting developments in policing here for some time.     

If you are interested in finding out more about the College, you can visit the website at http://www.desertcreatcollege.org/