Call for body to implement policing findings

The Policing Commission will be recommending to the Government that a body be established to implement its findings, the chair of the expert body has said.

Kathleen O’Toole said the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland (Patten Commission) had pressed for this measure and that its creation was key to setting up the PSNI.

Ms Toole sat on the Patten Commission and said she and the rest of the members of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland were determined their report would not “just gather dust”.

Speaking before the commission’s first major public consultation in Cork tomorrow evening, Ms O’Toole said: “An oversight body was established after Patten to ensure that everything is implemented.

“Certainly, we will make a recommendation on the need for such a body to implement our report. We do not want this report to sit on a shelf and gather dust.”

The commission is conducting a major review of policing, including recruitment and training, its structures and function, technology, leadership and the entire issue of accountability and oversight.

It is due to complete its report by September 2018.

The public consultation — in Boole 1 lecture theatre in UCC at 7pm on Tuesday — is to be moderated by criminal justice expert Professor Caroline Fennell.

It is the first of eight such meetings around the country between now and January, with the second in Athlone this Thursday. It is part of a wider consultation, including written submissions, with the deadline for receipt of all such entries being the end of January.

“People should be the ones who set the agenda,” said Ms O’Toole. “We want to listen to ordinary people. I am a strong advocate of that.

“It was the same with the Patten Commission, where we also had extensive public consulation.”

She said the commission had been conducting research and compiling data since it started work and was examining best practice in other countries. I

t had set up five subcommittees:

• Governance, oversight, and accountability.
• Recruitment, training, and professional development.
• The role of policing — examining civil policing, immigration, and security.
• Technology and digital innovation.
• Leadership and structures.

From February, it would conduct analysis of the consultation process and sometime after spring, start writing its report and deliberating on its recommendations.

She said she hoped the external review of the Department of Justice ordered recently by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar would feed into the work of the commission.

The commission is examining the relationship between the department and the gardaí (as well as the Policing Authority and the Garda Inspectorate).

“We will examine, are the stuctures effective, who is playing what role and how are they operating?” she said.

She said the Taoiseach’s external review was reporting by Christmas and also had a much wider remit than the commission.

“We will follow very closely the review and will keep strong lines of communication open with them,” Ms O’Toole said.

She pointed out that she sat on the Toland Review, which examined the department in 2014.