Policing bodies ‘must have teeth’

A SENIOR policing official has warned that Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s planned Joint Policing Committees will be ineffective unless they are give proper powers and a defined role.

Northern Ireland Policing Board vice chairman Denis Bradley said the new bodies, which are to be formed between local authorities and the gardaí under the Garda Síochána Bill 2004, were in danger of becoming “parish councils”.

“The bill still does not define what the committees are going to do, or what they are about. There’s not enough clarity,” he claimed.