SF urged to join Policing Board

Sinn Féin joining the Policing Board which holds the Police Service of Northern Ireland to account will be the last piece in the jigsaw of policing reform, the board chairman said today.

If devolution is achieved by next Monday's deadline following the republican party's decision to support the PSNI, the Policing Board will be reconstituted with Sinn Féin given three of the 10 seats reserved for political representatives.

Chief Constable Hugh Orde said he looked forward to Sinn Féin taking their seats on the board and insisted next week was critical.

Board chairman Professor Desmond Rea added he hoped that if March 26 proved positive, the board could move forward into a new era.

"If everyone holds their nerve, we have a huge potential for moving forward," said Orde.

"Provided we are not continually pulled back into our history, I look forward to the future with a great deal of confidence."

There was clear evidence of Sinn Féin encouraging people in the nationalist community to report crime to the police and encouraging people to join the PSNI, he said.

If everything went as planned on March 26, and was followed with Sinn Féin joining the Policing Board, "it will make the Board fully representative of the community and it will hold me to account in the way Patten envisaged", he said.

Speaking as the Policing Board launched its Policing Plan for the next year in Belfast, Mr Orde said Sinn Féin support for policing would allow people who voted for them to engage with the police where they previously felt they could not.

"We are not there yet, it is not going to happen overnight," he said. "There are some legacy issues we have to deal with but in my judgment the trend is good."

Prof. Rea said Sinn Féin taking their seats would be "the last piece in the jigsaw being put in place".

He added: "This society has so much to gain by that."

He said he hoped young members of the republican community would now consider policing as a career and would apply to join.

Prof. Rea said a new board would have four DUP members, three Sinn Féin, two Ulster Unionists and one SDLP.

The SDLP, he suggested, might feel there was rough justice for them to be reduced to one seat by the arrival of Sinn Féin.

By taking their seats on the board when it was set up and Sinn Féin refused to join, "they bore the heat of the night" but would now be reduced in numbers, he said.

Improving public confidence in the police service was made a key objective of the new Policing Plan.

"In the context of the changing political climate and policing environment, the Policing Board wants to be assured that the police have the confidence and support of all sections of our community," said Prof. Rea.

Launching the sixth Policing Plan - and the first since Sinn Féin gave its support to the PSNI - Prof. Rea said the service had been set challenging targets in relation to police response to emergency calls and the percentage of crime victims who were satisfied that they had been kept informed about the progress of their case.

The board, he said, would carefully monitor police performance.

Reducing the fear of crime and promoting safer communities also featured as a new objective in this year's plan.

"People's perceptions of crime can have a significant impact on public confidence," said Prof. Rea.

"Experiences of crime and anti-social behaviour can affect these perceptions and exacerbate public fears."

During the next year, the police have been tasked with reducing incidents of anti-social behaviour by 5%.

The board will also establish a baseline figure for the percentage of people who feel safe in their communities with a view to setting challenging targets for the police to increase in the future, he said.