Chris Patten to review how his vision for a new beginning to policing in Northern Ireland has progressed
Chris Patten and his Northern Ireland policing review team – who recommended a community-focused PSNI to replace the RUC – has been asked for a progress update.
Police Federation (PFNI) chair Liam Kelly said chief constable Jon Boutcher has revealed details of an approach to the former Hong Kong governor, seeking an assessment of how his vision for a new beginning to policing in Northern Ireland has been progressed since the late 1990s, and Mr Kelly believes it “won’t make comfortable reading”.
Chris Patten made 175 recommendations that reflected a policing service operating in a post-conflict society, including that, “policing with the community should be the core function of the police service and the core function of every police station,” and, “that while we have not accepted the argument that the Royal Ulster Constabulary should be disbanded, it should henceforth be named the Northern Ireland Police Service”.
However, Liam Kelly has said that underfunding has left the PSNI in a position that “community policing is in name only”.
Speaking to the News Letter at the federation’s annual conference on Wednesday, Mr Kelly said: “In 1999, when Chris Patten mentioned about transforming the PSNI as a new service, with community policing being embedded right across our society – seven and a half thousand officers, who would be supported by a number of part-time colleagues as well.
"The reality of what we see 26 years on, is our officer numbers decimated. We are now sitting at 6,379. Our community policing is in name only, because our neighbourhood officers are now being asked to do response calls, and not doing the problem solving.
"So I think our communities have in some ways been let down very badly by our governments, in not supporting the PSNI to become the organisation that Chris Patten had envisaged.”
Commenting on the current security situation, and the ongoing terrorist threat to officers, Mr Kelly said: “Twenty-six years on, we are still blighted by terrorism, and unfortunately, our numbers need to reflect an ability to actually deal with those people.
"So, we have a report from our chief constable about our numbers being around eight and a half thousand – so we are almost 2,000 short.
"And finally, around the Patten report, the chief constable mentioned this morning [in his address to the PFNI delegates] that he is in conversation with the original Patten team and asking them to do a ‘health check’ on what they think their vision initally was, and what it looks like 26 years on, and I don’t think it will make comfortable reading for our communities.”
Mr Kelly added: "The reality around it is, I think we have been badly let down.”
In his own address to the PFNI delegates, the chief constable said: “I share many of the concerns I heard here today: about our budget, officer numbers, pay and assaults on police."
Mr Boutcher added: “These are issues I have raised with the Policing Board and others on numerous occasions and I will continue to work relentlessly to ensure that policing is given the resources it needs”.