DPPs force policing u-turn

A PSNI target on community engagement remains a key focus in this year's policing plan for North Belfast following ‘cumulative pressure’ on the PSNI, said Sinn Féin Councillor and DPP Chairman Conor Maskey.
The decision to retain the target was the result of many months of discussion between the PSNI, who wanted to scrap it, and members of the North Belfast District Policing Partnership (DPP) who wanted to retain a barometer of community confidence.
The target was finally included in the 2010/2011 policing plan after a senior member of the PSNI, close to the Chief Constable's office, was sent to a private DPP meeting to sort the matter out and, in the end, over-ruled the views of local police officers.
It was in October last year that all members of the North Belfast DPP agreed the policing plan needed revamping, but not at the expense of this target said Conor Maskey.
“Mark Hamilton [North and West Belfast PSNI Commander, currently on leave] gave a fairly impassioned plea about the need for the policing plan to be changed, and the DPP members agreed.
“But then they came back to us a couple of months later without this target of the PSNI engaging with the community. Unanimously we told them this was unacceptable.
“Two weeks ago we had a meeting with West Belfast DPP members to discuss this matter again and the attitude of the police was nothing short of disgraceful. They were not there to work in partnership with us, they were trying to dictate to us.
“We met with the Policing Board last week and expressed our deep concerns at this development and then we had another meeting with the West Belfast DPP board. At this meeting a senior member of the PSNI came, forced a U-turn and agreed it should be included.
“We welcome this end result, it shows that by collectively working together we can make progress. The joint lobbying of the Policing Board, the joint courses of action agreed by the DPPs, ensured a cumulative pressure on the PSNI and as a result we are in a far better position to start the policing year in April.”