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21/01/2004
Policing Board Committee discuss racist attacks in Belfast
The recent attacks on ethnic minorities in South Belfast were the main topic of discussion at the monthly meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board’s Community Involvement Committee.
Speaking after the meeting, at the Board’s Clarendon Dock HQ in Belfast, Policing Board Chairman, Desmond Rea, said that it was important to recognise that people from different ethnic backgrounds do not stand alone.
He said: “Any attack, at anytime, on anybody, for whatever reason is intolerable and must be condemned. But the PSNI cannot work in isolation and the vulnerable in society will remain vulnerable unless they, and the police service, have the full support of the entire community in dealing with those whose behaviour is calculated to intimidate, instill fear and harm.”
Professor Rea also said that there was a need to build trust and confidence in policing within the different ethnic communities: “It is important that this confidence is established and that the communities realize that they will be listened to, their concerns taken into consideration and action taken. Board members will therefore be meeting with the local ethnic group leaders to discuss any issues of concern and see how they can best be responded to.”
Professor Rea added: “To ensure that policing is effective and efficient, the Board, together with the PSNI, is at an advanced stage in agreeing targets for the police service to meet in relation to racist and homophobic crime.”
Professor Rea stated that while he understood that this would be of little comfort to those who had suffered attacks, these measures would ensure that the Policing Board would be able to monitor these types of attacks on a quarterly basis, to help ensure that the PSNI were taking effective and efficient actions to deal with these crimes.
Professor Rea said it was important to remember that on Tuesday, January 27, the UK’s main commemoration of National Holocaust Memorial Day would take place in Belfast. He said: “Building a better today, to ensure a better tomorrow means learning from the past and it is perhaps symbolic that this year’s main commemoration has come to Northern Ireland.”
(KMcA)
Speaking after the meeting, at the Board’s Clarendon Dock HQ in Belfast, Policing Board Chairman, Desmond Rea, said that it was important to recognise that people from different ethnic backgrounds do not stand alone.
He said: “Any attack, at anytime, on anybody, for whatever reason is intolerable and must be condemned. But the PSNI cannot work in isolation and the vulnerable in society will remain vulnerable unless they, and the police service, have the full support of the entire community in dealing with those whose behaviour is calculated to intimidate, instill fear and harm.”
Professor Rea also said that there was a need to build trust and confidence in policing within the different ethnic communities: “It is important that this confidence is established and that the communities realize that they will be listened to, their concerns taken into consideration and action taken. Board members will therefore be meeting with the local ethnic group leaders to discuss any issues of concern and see how they can best be responded to.”
Professor Rea added: “To ensure that policing is effective and efficient, the Board, together with the PSNI, is at an advanced stage in agreeing targets for the police service to meet in relation to racist and homophobic crime.”
Professor Rea stated that while he understood that this would be of little comfort to those who had suffered attacks, these measures would ensure that the Policing Board would be able to monitor these types of attacks on a quarterly basis, to help ensure that the PSNI were taking effective and efficient actions to deal with these crimes.
Professor Rea said it was important to remember that on Tuesday, January 27, the UK’s main commemoration of National Holocaust Memorial Day would take place in Belfast. He said: “Building a better today, to ensure a better tomorrow means learning from the past and it is perhaps symbolic that this year’s main commemoration has come to Northern Ireland.”
(KMcA)
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Northern Ireland WeatherThis Evening and Tonight:Cloudy and patchy light rain will slowly clear away this evening. Then the rest of the night will be dry with broken cloud. Westerly winds freshening in the early hours. Minimum temperature 6 °C.
