Policing Board Focus Seeks Service, Not Stats

Comptroller and Auditor General Kieran Donnelly has looked into how Northern Ireland's Policing Board put together its annual Policing Plan last year, which set out areas for improvement for the PSNI.

Mr Donnelly said: "An effective partnership between the Policing Board and the PSNI is key to achieving continuous improvement in policing.

"While this is important to everyone in our society, it cannot be achieved by good will alone. Instead, it needs sustained effort, supported by arrangements that meet the needs of both partners."

The Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) report on the continuous improvement arrangements in the Policing Board found that although the targets outlined in the 2010/11 performance plan are reasonable, there is a risk of inaccurate reporting of performance resulting from the inconsistency in data relating to each target.

The report into the NI Policing Board claimed their approach to evaluations needs to be reviewed and the assessment of police performance should be a mix of quantitative and qualitative indicators.

Mr Donnelly said the focus should be on service quality rather than specific statistics, such as arrest rates or officer redeployments.

He stated that while quantitative targets have their place as a measure of performance, "national developments in policing signal a greater emphasis on qualitative targets".

A number of recommendations where made to address the issues raised by the NIAO including the Board should review its approach to assessing police performance and the policing plan should contain a mixture of both quantitative and qualitative indicators with data input to information systems used to generate PSNI performance information should be validated.

The Board should implement also swiftly an action plan in response to the Independent Assessment Report.

The news came just hours after the Stormont Justice Minister David Ford announced the make up of the reconstituted Northern Ireland Policing Board, which comes into effect from Tuesday.

Alliance party Leader David Ford said: "The Northern Ireland Policing Board performs a crucial role in holding the Chief Constable and his officers to account, ensuring that the PSNI is effective, efficient and responsive to the needs of the community.

"Effective policing has to be informed by the different voices across the entire community.

"The wide variety of background and experience represented by the political and independent members on this new Board will ensure that all interests are taken into account."

The MLAs are: the DUP's Robin Newton, Jonathan Craig, Adrian McQuillan and Ian McCrea; Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly, Caitriona Ruane and Pat Sheehan; Ross Hussey, UUP; Conall McDevitt, SDLP and Trevor Lunn, Alliance.

The independent members are: Anne Connolly, Ryan Feeney, Stuart MacDonnell, Gerry O'hEara, Joan O'Hagan, Brian Rea, Brian Rowntree, Michael Wardlow and Deborah Watters.

David Ford (pictured) added: "I would like to pay tribute to all the former members of the Policing Board for the significant contribution they have made to policing in Northern Ireland and their personal commitment to the Board and its work."

He also commented: "I have every confidence that the newly reconstituted Board will continue to take this important work forward at a time of both challenge and opportunity for the PSNI and the Board."

(BMcC/GK)