Police chief welcomes human rights report

The Police Service of Northern Ireland has welcomed the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission report into its training of probationary constables and student officers.

Joe Stewart, senior director of human resources at the PSNI, said the report demonstrated a clear commitment on the part of the service to mainstream human rights issues into training programmes.

Mr Stewart said: “It was at the invitation of the PSNI that this study has been conducted and we have worked closely with the NIHRC in a spirit of openness and transparency to ensure that we continue to develop human rights-based training programmes which not only match, but exceed, those provided by other European police services.”

The commission had acknowledged there was clear evidence of a continued and accelerated commitment by PSNI trainers to incorporate human rights issues into training, he said.

Mr Stewart said since the study was concluded changes had been made and the PSNI would study the report recommendations to see what more could be done.

“We see this as an ongoing issue which will be expanded and developed,” he said.