30/04/2008

Policing Board Marks Progress

The Province's policing oversight body has hailed a 'best value' approach to policing as successful.

The NI Policing Board's Resources and Improvement Committee has this week been briefed on two reports outlining considerable progress made in the implementation of recommendations from both the PSNI's Patrolling and their Partnerships Best Value Reviews.

Chair of the Committee, Dolores Kelly, said: "Many of the recommendations have now been implemented by PSNI which has resulted in tangible benefits and improvements to the quality of service delivered."

She said the Committee noted that the implementation of best value recommendations on patrolling have resulted in improvements such as an increase of single officer patrols, greater information sharing between PSNI, local councils and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, and a more streamlined approach to drugs and alcohol related training.

Research for the reports that were delivered this week were carried out in 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 respectively and found that 45% of the recommendations contained in the Best Value Review of Patrolling have now been fully implemented or superseded by other changes occurring within PSNI and that 58% of recommendations in the Partnerships Best Value Review have been implemented/superseded.

However, despite the many positive findings, the committee members were concerned at the lack of progress in some areas, so there remains work to be done on fully implementing outstanding recommendations to ensure that all potential benefits are fully realised.

Dolores Kelly said: "It is vital for effective community policing that police officers are out on the streets engaging at local level. We are already seeing the impact of the relationships being built between officers and the community in many areas; and reviews like this help ensure that resources are used to maximum effect."

(BMcC)

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