Five-day deadline for new-look police service decision
The political parties in Northern Ireland have been given until Tuesday to decide if they will accept or reject the new-look police service as set out in the Government’s latest implementation plan.
If parties from both sides of the religious divide agree and sign up to the new Police Board, it will mark the start of a new era in policing - three years after the Good Friday Agreement triggered the process of reforming the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
Chris Patten’s commission drew up 175 recommendations, including changing the name, uniform and crest of the force and slashing personnel numbers.
Changes started to take shape last year following the first implementation plan by the then Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson.
Since then an Independent Police Ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan, has been appointed and the pre-Patten manpower levels of 12,500 men and women are down significantly.
The first new recruits - selected on a 50-50 Catholic-Protestant basis - are to start training in the autumn and when they pass out next spring, the renamed Police Service of Northern Ireland will come into existence.
But nationalists have maintained the changes do not go far enough and the Government hopes this latest plan will at least win over John Hume’s SDLP, if not Sinn Fein.
His backing and that of the leadership of the Catholic Church will be crucial.
The plan provides for:
:: Reducing the Special Branch to half its pre-Patten size by September this year, mostly by amalgamating the support units - usually associated with riot control - into the wider force;
:: Closing the last remaining holding centre in Northern Ireland at Gough barracks in Armagh city;
:: Phasing out the full-time reserve force over a three-year period;
:: Increasing numbers in the part-time reserve - currently around 1,000 - to 2,500;
:: Granting the Ombudsman the power to ‘‘investigate’’ policies and practices which give rise to difficulties. Under current legislation she can only report on them.
:: Amending police conduct regulations so that obstruction of such an investigation is a disciplinary offence;
:: Making it easier for members of the new Policing Board to launch inquiries into alleged misdemeanours. Instead of needing a majority of votes, the move could be started with the backing of only eight of the 19 members;
:: A rethink on the existing disqualification on ex-paramilitaries from taking unelected seats on the 29 district policing partnership. It is understood they would have to promise not to support proscribed groups;
:: No training in the use of plastic baton rounds for newly-recruited officers, either during their initial two-year probationary period or the following two years.
:: A new British-Irish agreement to allow more co-operation between the Garda Siochana and the Police Service of Northern Ireland;
The plan also urges the overwhelmingly Catholic Gaelic Athletic Association to lift its ban prohibiting members of UK security forces from playing Gaelic sports.
