Policing Board to address major US policing conference

A delegation from the Northern Ireland Policing Board will travel to the United States this week to participate in the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) annual conference in Chicago, which brings together over 350 police chiefs from across the United States.

Policing Board Chairman, Professor Sir Desmond Rea, Belfast District Policing Partnership (DPP) Independent Member, Thomas McCullough, and the Policing Board’s Human Rights Advisor, Jane Gordon, will contribute to two sessions of the conference: 'Policing Divided Communities: Northern Ireland, Los Angeles, and Chicago' and 'Managing Public Order: Lessons Learned From Northern Ireland'.

Speaking about the Board’s involvement, Sir Desmond said: “On behalf of the Policing Board, I am delighted to have been invited by PERF to join the impressive line-up of speakers at this conference and share experiences of policing in Northern Ireland.

“PERF is a national organisation dedicated to improving policing and advancing police professionalism through research and involvement in the public policy debate.

“The conference will be attended by policing representatives from across the USA who want to be on the cutting-edge of modern policing.

“Following the success of the Policing Board and PSNI’s recent international ‘Policing the Future’ conference in Belfast, it is clear that the international policing community is keen to listen to and learn from the Northern Ireland policing experience.

“During the conference, we will discuss issues such as Policing Divided Communities, Managing Public Order and Policing with the Community – areas of policing in which significant progress has been made in Northern Ireland in recent years, and much of which, we are being told, is now regarded as international best-practice.

“I look forward to sharing the experiences of the Policing Board and DPPs and learning from the latest thinking, developments and best-practice from policing across the USA.”

(JM/KMcA)