PSNI 25th anniversary: It has been a privilege to serve for 25 years, says Lorraine Calvert

It was his labour of love. Truth be told it has been mine too and Desmond’s words resonate.

Fresh from the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland had hope in the promise of peace, a hope that I shared and a peace that I voted for. It also brought the promise of a new beginning to policing and policing oversight.

At that time I was working in the press office of the old Police Authority and after Patten’s Report was unveiled in September1999 became part of the project team set up to manage the transition and establishment of the Board.

Being part of that team, working with the NIO and the late great Robin Masefield, were exciting times albeit political progress seemed painstakingly slow. But despite uncertainties we motored on with plans and in Spring 2001 moved to what would be the Board’s new offices at Waterside Tower in Clarendon Dock, fittingly an area and landscape

also undergoing major transformation and change.

Following the Weston Park Agreement in August 2001, parties finally committed and we knew it was game on with the new Board membership announced on 29 September 2001.

I remember the very first meeting with the new Chairman and Vice Chairman, Desmond and Denis, and the temporary CEO Ivan Wilson who had been parachuted in by the NIO to keep us all on track (he was an experienced senior civil servant but not a typical one, he brought flair, style and panache).

It felt very much like an interview to see if the ‘civil servants’ were up to the challenge and ‘bought in’ to what was required. We absolutely were.

From the first moment we met, it was clear to me that Desmond and Denis brought a shared belief in peace, in peacebuilding and the importance of delivering the policing change that would support that.

Both seasoned and shaped by life experience they were instantly likeable. In 2001, there was a still a strong formality in the workplace and some were title and grade conscious,

but they had no airs or graces. D and D did have their ‘odd couple’ ways but both knew exactly what needed to be done.

The political members were all household names, bringing the democratic credentials deemed essential in Patten, minus at that time Sinn Féin. ‘Google it’ wasn’t a thing in 2001, so we only had pen profiles on the independents, the people who would bring expertise relevant to the Board’s work.

On meeting them, it quickly became clear that individually and collectively they most certainly did, expertise that was quickly put to work.

As we worked towards 4 November, meeting after meeting made sure plans were ready for the Board to breathe life and put its own stamp on the programme of work that would progress the updated Patten implementation plan.

All corners were covered for that first meeting in public on 7 November 2001.

Choreography walked through, timings agreed, seating plans finalised, media plans discussed, speaking notes and statements drafted, redrafted and tweaked to make sure that those first words set the Board off on the right note.

I quickly learned that Desmond read every single word drafted (in silence) whereas Denis would just say with his boyish grin ‘your words make me think about what I really want to say’. I took that as a compliment!

I vividly remember walking the Board down to take their seats for that first meeting. As we entered, silence in the room, bar the whirr and clicking of cameras as local, national and international media captured the historic moment.

‘Defining the Future’ was the strapline of the new Board logo and little did we know in that moment just how apt it would be.

Those first days, weeks and months were fast paced and characterised by long days, long meetings and intense media interest. Denis understood the power and importance of the media, and he along with Board political reps, were media regulars.

GMU was always a good barometer to assess how the day might pan out. The phone never stopped ringing with media wanting to know what was happening, gathered outside, hoping to catch a word or footage of someone or something coming or going, even if that was Hammy the

then security guard wheeling in the fish and chip delivery to a late night meeting.

And you have to remember that 25 years ago, the media landscape was not as it is now.

Press conferences were often hastily organised by a ring round after a decision reached. Statements drafted, printed and handed out. Technology then was a pre-programmed fax machine. The late evening announcements on agreements on the new PSNI emblem and the

appointment of Hugh Orde as the first Board appointed PSNI Chief Constable still stand out, as does my memory of being chided by the one and only Mr Mallie after I was dispatched to tell the assembled room full of press that there was a slight hiccup in the Chief Constable appointment process. We got there later that evening, and even managed to retrieve the new Chief Constable out of the pub to address said press conference.

The Board was demanding and there was a lot of pressure. The progress was clear to see and that was the red bull that energised. In amongst all the seriousness there were always moments of humour to break the tension, and it was sometimes hard to keep a straight face as we were expected to do.

Denis’s office was the unofficial smoking room where, in times of stress, we would steal a quick smoke while Denis, smoking his pipe, would soothingly nod his head in acknowledgement. And when absolutely necessary we would hold post meeting debriefs in Pat’s Bar, sadly no longer there.

His office also served as the ‘surveillance’ window to see who was outside or coming in.

And that included finding the distinctive sound of bleating drifting through the office was actually coming from Viscount B’s sheep filled trailer parked out front..

Throughout all those early days the Board again and again proved its mettle by navigating and negotiating its way through issues that seemed impossible, and it was so inspiring to be party to that.

Within that founding membership, I saw courage, passion, conviction and common purpose in action. Seamus Heaney’s words sum it up:

‘Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for’.

Nothing would have been achieved without the many people who stepped up and stepped forward to be part of it, whether that be on the Board, within policing, within politics or within the community.

I can honestly say that the consensus on the Board then, and throughout the last 25 years has been driven by the desire to ensure the best possible policing service for the whole community. A service and oversight Board that the community can have confidence in.

And that has driven me too.

As I look back, the words of Hemingway prevail: ’It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end’.’

Over the last 25 years, there have undoubtedly been good times, difficult times and very sad times. But throughout all of those years it has been my absolute privilege to serve, meet and work with so many amazing and dedicated people who have shared a common desire to make things better. And there has never been a dull moment.

My journey with the Board will soon come to an end, but the journey of policing and policing oversight will continue. Patten’s Report was seminal and those founding principles on which the new policing arrangements are built remain solid to this day.

But as with any structure ongoing care and maintenance is required, and the oversight work of the Board remains critical to that.

For me the new policing arrangements have been personal as well as professional and my husband has told me thousands of times that I care too much. But when it comes to something as important as policing, I think we all have a responsibility to care more as it remains as important now as it did 25 years ago.

When the Board unanimously reached agreement on the new emblem for the PSNI in December 2001 I remember sitting with Tom Kelly, drafting the words for the accompanying release.

‘The symbols were designed to reflect diversity, hope and the desire to mutually respect and protect difference through policing. Symbols that reflect an inclusive society where all our values, common interests and differences are recognised, celebrated and protected.’

In the last 25 years so much has changed in policing and in our community. But those words and symbols still embody what our policing service, and our society, must be, now and into the future. It is in all our interests, and those of future generations, to work to make sure that happens.

• Lorraine Calvert is communications manager at the NI Policing Board