Everyone has a part to play

The events of the past week have shown, yet again, how fragile cross community relations can be.

The disorder in East Belfast was totally unacceptable and I can only imagine what it must have felt like for those people who were caught up in the middle and had their homes or property damaged. No matter what sparked this violence there is absolutely no excuse for it. Once again your Police Service was thrust into a situation not of its making, caught in the middle of two groups of people intent on causing harm and damage to the other.

All too often community leaders are criticised for not stepping up to the mark but I know how much effort, night and day, was put in to trying to restore some form of normality. I applaud everyone who worked together to achieve this. But tensions will remain high over the next few weeks and I encourage everyone of influence, elected and community leaders, to continue to work tirelessly to ensure that those intent on causing trouble do not achieve their ambition.

The Police Service does not want to divert resources away from local communities to police or prevent public disorder. Nor does it wish to spend money which could be better used supporting longer term initiatives to protect local communities and deal with the things which really matter to you.

We will not shy away from our responsibilities and we will seek to police impartially, proportionately and professionally, but you must support us and do everything you possibly can to ensure that tension is reduced and that those who want to cause trouble understand very clearly that they are not welcome.

Whether you’re a parent, a partner, a community or political leader, a person of influence in the community or a local resident please do not underestimate your ability to influence the thinking and actions of others.

This is a time for cool heads and for reflecting on the impact of what we say and do. Everyone has a part to play in reducing tensions and in contributing to longer term peace building in our society - a society which has come so far and deserves so much better than the events of last week.

Policing with the Community Rewarded

I was absolutely delighted to have attended the eighth annual Policing with the Community Awards earlier today.

The awards have been developed by the Police Service in partnership with the Northern Ireland Policing Board and many of the nominations come form the community. I am also very grateful to our sponsors Deloitte, Tesco, Aramark, Fujitsu, Grafton ESP, Sodexo and the Northern Bank.

The aim is to publicly recognise and reward outstanding problem-solving while highlighting the benefits of policing in partnership with local communities. They also seek to celebrate the important contribution that police staff make towards creating a safer Northern Ireland.

This year’s recipients were:-

• Probationer of the Year - Constable Lee Tavinder, F District, Cookstown Area
• Neighbourhood Policing Team of the Year - G District, City Centre Neighbourhood Team
• Diversity in Action Award – B District, Community Safety Team for their Tension Monitoring Group
• Problem Solving in Partnership Award- Organised Crime Branch, Operation Tarros
• Police Officer of the Year – Sergeant John Hughes, Operational Support Department, Armed Response Unit
• Police Staff member of the Year Award – Sharon Anderson, E District, Newry and Mourne Area
• Police Staff Lifetime Achievement – Tina Broderick, F District, Omagh Area
• Police Lifetime Achievement – Constable Derek Friel, F District, Fermanagh Area

The officers and staff who have been rewarded are members of your police service. These are the people who day and daily go the extra mile to ensure that you receive a personal, professional and protective policing service in some of the most challenging circumstances experienced anywhere in the UK.

Some of the examples provided for consideration ranged from a probationer constable who in a very short period of time has made a real difference in the local community; and neighbourhood policing and community safety teams who have grasped issues important to the local community and made a difference.

Other examples included operations against criminality in Money Service Bureaus, resulting in 27 arrests, the recovery of laundered fuel, smuggled cigarettes and seizure of over £1million in cash and drugs valued at £1.75m; a staff member who has dedicated 34 years to supporting front line policing and one who has been instrumental in improving contact management; a Sergeant who has an outstanding record in crime prevention and detection and a Constable who has given 25 years to proactively supporting the local community in Fermanagh.

We are very fortunate to have so many great police officers and staff members and the standard of nominations is always very high, making it extremely difficult to decide on the final winner in each category. There are so many who are worthy of recognition in this way.

I am very proud of all the officers and staff in the Police Service of Northern Ireland who work tirelessly day and daily to deliver a policing service, but especially proud of those who received recognition today. I know that many of you will join with me in offering them your congratulations.

Today is an opportunity for them to celebrate their success but tomorrow each of them will be back, doing what they do best, delivering a police service in your community.

Working together for an even better Police Service

This afternoon, the Chief Constable my Chief Officer colleagues and I held our first formal meeting with the newly appointed Policing Board.

It's hard to believe that the Policing Board, like the PSNI, will shortly mark its tenth anniversary. For those of you are perhaps less familiar with the role of the Policing Board, it was originally established to secure an effective, efficient, impartial, representative and accountable police service which will secure the confidence of the whole community, by reducing crime and the fear of crime.

The Board and its work is an example of how much progress has been made over the past 10 years. A diverse group of political and independent, members from across Northern Ireland regularly sit down together with the ambition of securing the very best policing service possible for everyone, regardless of who they are.

In my experience, working with the Board has been both challenging and rewarding. As a police officer I welcome challenge. Inevitably at times we will not always agree. But despite this, I have absolutely no doubt that the Police Service and the Policing Board share a vision for the Police Service of Northern Ireland to be the finest personal, professional and protective police service in the world.

Whilst the Board plays a very important role, you also have a very important role to play. Not only can you give us your full support whilst we work to keep you and your community safe from harm, but there are also opportunities for your voice to be heard through the network of District Policing Partnership meetings, soon to become Police and Community Safety Partnership meetings.

These meetings give you the chance to engage personally with your local Senior Police Officers and tell them what is important to you. These are excellent opportunities for really constructive conversations, which we really value as a service.

We also value the many less formal opportunities to discuss policing issues with communities, groups and individuals and we are actively seeking more across Northern Ireland.

I look forward to working with the new Policing Board which is a vital component in the accountability and community confidence landscape. But I also look forward to this police service - your police service - working even more closely with you whether as a community, a local group or as an individual, to hear your views on how we can work together to make the police service you receive even better in the days, weeks, months and years ahead.

Division - No Quick Fix

This morning I had the pleasure of participating in a panel discussion at the Community Relations Council Annual Policy Conference at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast.

This was only one of many events taking place across Northern Ireland as part of Community Relations week 2011.

The theme for the week is 'Division - No Quick Fix'. Many of us have become so conditioned to division it almost feels normal. The conference reminded me just how much division affects and shapes our society.

At an estimated cost of £1 billion per year, division affects everything from health to education to public transport, to access to services and - at times - two of everything literally a few streets apart. This situation is not and should not be seen as normal.

Community relations, or rather, Community Confidence is a critical part of policing. Sadly so much of our time is spent dealing with the symptoms of division and whilst the Police Service has a significant role to play, we do not have all the answers and are part of a much bigger solution.

I welcome the publication of the Criminal Justice Inspectorate's report, today, on PSNI Contact Management. How we deal with people, who are very often contacing us at a time of personal crisis, is critical to community confidence in the Police Service and this has an impact on the wider issue of community relations. Every encounter we have with the public can have a significance way beyond the immediate incident.

I very much welcome the recognition from CJINI of the work which we have already undertaken and we look forward to updating the Inspectorate on how this work is being rolled out across the Service.

Much has been achieved and sometimes we can forget just how far we have come. Last weeks truly historic visit by Her Majesty the Queen to the Republic of Ireland is a prime example of this. We want to have the ability and space to support communities effectively. Time and money spent dealing with division distracts us from that ambition. But if we work together, I believe that much more can be achieved.

Every single one of us has a responsibility to play. For me that's not just in my role as Deputy Chief Constable, but also as a wife, mother and member of my local community. Never underestimate the circle of influence and the power in your hands to challenge and change division.

Achieving Success Together

Last Thursday we released our annual statistics detailing crime figures for the period 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011.

During the year there were 4,099 less victims of crime. We have reduced the level of crime to a 13-year low and increased our detection rate to 27.3%, up 1.5% on the previous year.

By working in partnership with many other public, private and voluntary agencies, road deaths have been reduced and 43 fewer people died on the roads. There were over 3,500 drugs seizures, more than the previous year resulting in fewer drugs on our streets for dealers to sell to our children and young people.

While there were 237 less victims of violent crime, robberies and sexual offences increased. Together with our partners, we are working hard to identify ways to reduce these incidents and I encourage everyone to follow our personal and business safety advice.

It is accepted that we work in a unique policing environment. No other UK police service faces the daily threat of terrorist attack on their officers and staff. Regrettably, at times this threat will impact upon the style and delivery of our service in some areas. I assure you that we will not allow the threat to prevent us from working with and in communities to tackle crime and deal with the issues that really matter.

Despite the reduction, there still were over 105,000 victims of crime and we recognise the huge impact left on some individuals long after events have passed. That’s why we will focus on the personal impact of crime and tackle anti-social behaviour and crime in a professional and protective manner.

We will continue to listen to communities, identify local issues of concern and work together to solve them. We will redouble our efforts to prevent people becoming victims of crime and where crimes occur, do our best to bring those responsible to justice.

The successful reduction of overall crime would not have been possible without your support. You are our partners in crime prevention and reduction. This is as much your success as it is ours.

Going forward we want to do even better. I appeal for your unconditional support in tackling crime, preventing serious harm and protecting communities as we strive to be the finest personal, professional and protective police service in the world.

Protecting Democratic Rights

Tomorrow thousands of people across Northern Ireland will go to the polls to vote in the Northern Ireland Assembly and Local Council elections and the referendum on the voting system.

Across Northern Ireland there will be 1400 Polling Stations and we have been working very closely for some time with the Electoral Commission to ensure that people exercise their democratic right to vote , safely and without disruption . At times,there will be a noticeable increased security presence to deter anyone from interfering with the electoral process but we will ensure, in so far as possible that this will be low key .

Once the polls close at 10pm tomorrow night we will be supporting the Commission to help ensure that ballot boxes reach the 8 counting centres safely and that the counting process is completed without hindrance or interruption.

I want to reassure you that this is a carefully planned and very significant police operation but one which we regard as absolutely critical to ensuring that everyone who chooses to do so can be facilitated to safely cast their vote. We will be working in partnership with many agencies to ensure that the day passes off as smoothly as possible.

This is a very important day for Northern Ireland, and you can support your police service by ensuring that you report anything suspicious to us as soon as possible. We will in turn ensure that we respond as quickly as possible to any request for assistance and ensure that any disruption is kept to an absolute minimum.

Our Commitments to you

If you have been listening to the news today, no doubt you will have heard your Chief Constable speaking about our Policing Commitments to you.

I don't intend to go into them in detail, because over the next few weeks your very own personal copy of our 10 pledges will drop through your letter box.

The most important point to highlight is that these Commitments are a result of having listened to you, your neighbours, public representatives and community leaders. These are things which you have told us matter most.

We are here to deliver a Police Service to you regardless of religion, politics, cultural identity, age, gender or sexual orientation. This is not about having a set of promises to hang on the wall in your local police station, but about standards that you can judge us upon. We will also give you the opportunity to tell us how well you think we have performed against those standards.

We have already delivered significant crime reductions, increased confidence and more police officers to visible policing roles and through our Commitments we hope to build on these achievements and deliver even more.

We know that the vast majority of people support us and want to work in partnership with us. Your support is vital to ensure that the small number of people who want us to fail and drag us back to the past do not succeed. Quite frankly they have nothing to offer society as an alternative.

The Chief Constable is absolutely determined and personally committed to delivering personal, professional and protective policing to every single person in Northern Ireland. This for me shows the commitment of our Chief Constable to raise policing here to another level and I know he is absolutely determined to see this through over the next few years. This will not be easy - it is undoubtedly very challenging and it is my privilege to support him in this regard.

I hope, in the words of your Chief Constable that: "One day all communities will simply say that the Police Service of Northern Ireland is our police."

These are our promises to you which I believe we can deliver. We are setting ourselves high standards. With your help and support, I believe we can achieve them.