Police Service of Northern Ireland

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Coverage
Police Service of Northern Ireland
Police Service of Northern Ireland area
Area	Northern Ireland
Size	13,843 km²
Population	Approx 1.7 million
Operations
Formed	2001
HQ	Cherryvalley, Belfast
Officers	9,200
Regions	3
Stations	28
Chief Constable	Sir Hugh Orde

Website	PSNI website

Irish Police forces
Royal Irish Constabulary. (All Ireland police force 1822—1922)
Dublin Metropolitan Police (1836—1925).
Irish Republican Police (Irish Republic 1920—1922)
An Garda Síochána (Republic of Ireland 1922—present)
Royal Ulster Constabulary (Northern Ireland 1922—2001)
Police Service of Northern Ireland (2001—present)

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (Irish: Seirbhís Póilíneachta Thuaisceart na hÉireann) is the police service that covers Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary a controversial police force^[1] which, in turn, was the successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary.

The PSNI was created on Sunday, 4 November 2001, as a result of a Policing Review set up under the Belfast Agreement. This agreement required the creation of an Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland, which became known as the Patten Commission after its chairman, Chris Patten.

All major political parties in Northern Ireland, Nationalist and Unionist support the PSNI. At first the political party Sinn Féin, which represents about a quarter of Northern Ireland voters, had refused to endorse the PSNI until Patten's recommendations are implemented in full. However, as part of the St Andrews Agreement Sinn Féin announced its full acceptance of the Police Service of Northern Ireland at a special Ard Fheis on the issue of policing on the 28 January 2007.[1]

The other major nationalist party in the region, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), has joined the Northern Ireland Policing Board and says that it is satisfied that the Patten recommendations are being implemented. In the summer of 2005, the SDLP's Alex Attwood estimated that 80% of Patten's recommendations have been implemented.

In September 2005 the PSNI established the Historical Enquiries Team to investigate the 3,269 unsolved murders committed during the Troubles.

On 22 January 2007 a report by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland stated that the Special Branch of the then Royal Ulster Constabulary had colluded ^[2] with loyalist paramilitaries in a number of murders and attempted murders in Northern Belfast between 1989-2002. [2]

1 Accountability
2 Recruitment
3 Policies
4 Uniform and equipment
5 Chief Constables
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Accountability

The PSNI is supervised by the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland deals with any complaints regarding the PSNI and investigates any allegations of serious misconduct by police officers. The current Police Ombudsman is Nuala O'Loan.

The Oversight Commissioner ensures that the Patten recommendations are implemented 'comprehensively and faithfully' and attempts to assure the community that all aspects of the report are being implemented and being seen to be implemented.

[edit] Recruitment

The PSNI has a positive discrimination policy (that is illegal in the UK), of recruiting 50% of its officers from a Roman Catholic background and 50% from "others", in order to reverse the serious religious imbalance that existed in the RUC as recommended by the Patten Report. Due to this positive discrimination people from a Protestant background feel alienated and discriminated against. It does not help ethnic minorites either who are also included in the "others" catergory thus reducing the quota even further. The name and symbols of the organisation are designed to avoid alienating either major community. By 2006, 20% of PSNI officers were Catholic, compared with just 8.3% of the old RUC ^[3].

[edit] Policies

In September 2006, it was confirmed that Assistant Chief Constable Judith Gillespie approved the PSNI policy of using children as informants including in exceptional circumstances to inform on their own family but not their parents. The document added safeguards included having a parent or "appropriate adult" present at meetings between juveniles and their handler. It also stressed a child's welfare should be paramount when considering the controversial tactics and required that any risk had been properly explained to them and a risk assessment completed [3].

[edit] Uniform and equipment

The colour of the PSNI uniform is bottle green.

The PSNI badge features the saltire of St Patrick, and six symbols representing different and shared traditions: a crown, a harp, a shamrock, scales of justice, a torch and a laurel leaf.

Unlike the majority of Police Forces in the United Kingdom, the PSNI is the only service that patrols an entire regional area routinely armed [4]. With the reduction of terrorist threats, officers are issued with Ruger Security Six Revolvers and some have been issued GLOCK 17 semi-automatic pistols. Previously they frequently carried long arms either the Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine gun or rifles such as Heckler & Koch G3s or HK33s as well as Ruger Mini-14 select fire rifles. Tasers were once considered, but the idea was abandoned after the Ombudsman said there was no need for them [5]

Other items of equipment include bar-link handcuffs, CS Spray, extendable batons and flashlights

In May 2005 the PSNI took delivery of its first helicopter, a Eurocopter EC 135. The PSNI (and the RUC) relied heavily on British Army helicopter support during the Troubles and into the 21st century. The helicopter will be used for pursuit, search for missing persons and for managing parades/demonstrations etc.

The service's headquarters are located close to Cherryvalley, in east Belfast.

[edit] Chief Constables

The senior officer in charge of the PSNI is its Chief Constable. To date this position has been held by three people:

Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan OBE, from the formation of the PSNI. Flanagan was previously the Chief Constable of the RUC.
Acting Chief Constable Colin Cramphorn, from 1 April 2002. Cramphorn was formerly Flanagan's deputy, and with Flanagan's resignation Cramphorn acted as Chief Constable while the Policing Board sought a permanent replacement. Cramphorn is believed to have turned down the post of Chief Constable due to the political expectations that he was required to fulfil, but which he apparently believed were inappropriate at that time.
Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde OBE, from 29 May 2002. Cramphorn continued as Orde's deputy until September 2002, when he was appointed Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police.

[edit] References

Weitzer, Ronald. 1995. Policing Under Fire: Ethnic Conflict and Police-Community Relations in Northern Ireland (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press).

Weitzer, Ronald. 1996. “Police Reform in Northern Ireland,” Police Studies, v.19, no.2. pages:27-43.

Weitzer, Ronald. 1992. “Northern Ireland's Police Liaison Committees,” Policing and Society, vol.2, no.3, pages 233-243.