A Day of Difference

One of the benefits of being the Deputy Chief Constable is that no day is ever really the same, and Saturday was certainly no exception.

I had been invited in the morning to attend Croke Park in Dublin to address the Gaelic Athletic Association, National Officer Development Day. At the outset I took the opportunity to pay tribute to my colleague from An Garda Síochána, Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe, who had been so brutally murdered just a few hours earlier. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and our colleagues at this very difficult time. The relationship between the Police Service of Northern Ireland and An Garda Síochána is probably like no other, between two police services and we are doing everything possible to support the investigation to bring his murderers to justice.

This is the second time I have spoken at Croke Park in the past few months and the symbolism of a senior Police Service of Northern Ireland officer addressing a gathering at this historically symbolic venue is not lost on me. I had been asked to speak about the PSNI change process and I spoke frankly about our experiences 'warts and all'.

As I returned from Dublin, I visited the Silver Room for 'D' District (Antrim, Lisburn, Carrickfergus and Newtownabbey) located in Lisburn Station and met with the District Commander, Chief Superintendent Henry Irvine and a number of the officers and staff on duty. I received a briefing on the minor disorder of the previous night in Newtownabbey.

I then visited a local sporting venue where the Services Netball Team were playing the Greater Manchester police. I wanted to speak with our colleagues from Greater Manchester to thank them for coming over despite the very negative publicity Northern Ireland has been receiving nationally and internationally. They all agreed that despite some reservations about travelling over that they were very glad they came and were overwhelmed by the warmth of the local welcome.

I finished my day by calling in on a Multi Cultural event in Dunmurry being run in partnership by Dunmurry Community Association, Greater Dunmurry Positive Relations Partnership and the local Presbyterian Church at Glebe Road. In some way this event was quite refreshing, given recent events - a gathering of people from a number of ethnic and faith backgrounds, local and some not so, meeting together despite their differences to have an afternoon of fun, food and music. I also had the opportunity to try my hand at the 'Chenda' drums, a traditional Indian musical instrument. Two of these drums had been presented to the Indian Malayali Association earlier in the afternoon and I was delighted that the Police Service of Northern Ireland had been able to help purchase these from a Diversity in Action Award bursary received by the local Neighbourhood Policing Team.

Whilst it is somewhat frustrating to be back at my desk again this morning and spending time, yet again, talking to senior colleagues about flag protests, the events of the weekend at least give me a sense of hope that community policing is progressing and that officers are out there doing their very best to deliver  personal, professional and protective policing in extremely difficult circumstances.