Policing Confidence High, But DPPs Need Higher Profile

The level of public confidence in policing within NI remains relatively high - a steady trend appreciated by the NI Policing Board - but who also want to see increased engagement between the various District Policing Partnerships (DPPs) and local communities.

Survey findings just published have been broadly welcomed as they show that the vast majority of people (85%) feel very or fairly safe in their community and 83% of respondents have some, a lot or total confidence in the police's ability to provide an ordinary day-to-day service for all the people of Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Policing Board said that the latest 'Omnibus Survey' details how the public rates the service delivered by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the Board itself, and the DPPs.

Chairman of the Board, Professor Sir Desmond Rea, said: "The survey findings show that over half of those questioned (58%) felt that the PSNI does a very or fairly good job of policing their local area, and under half (42%) were satisfied with the levels of police patrols in their area.

"It is also clear from the findings of three 'new' questions on the concept of neighbourhood and community policing that there is still work to do in building confidence and knowledge of this style of policing within local communities.

"At this moment in time we are all very aware of the level of threat from dissident groupings. This has an impact on how police resources are used at local level in many different ways," he said.

Turning to some of the other results in respect of the Board and DPPs, Sir Desmond continued: "Whilst the survey found that 73% of those who had heard of District Policing Partnerships believe that they help address local policing problems, only 54% said they were prepared to contact their DPP regarding local policing," he said, noting this is in spite of their recent reconstitution.

"DPPs are now fully representative of the community and over the coming months the Board would expect to see increased engagement between DPPs and local communities.

"They are the forums for local people to voice concerns about the delivery of policing in their local community.

"Through their DPP, local people can discuss with the PSNI the problems that they would like the police to address, and work in partnership with the police to solve these problems.

"The Board wants to ensure the DPPs are meeting local community expectations and have invested significantly in improving confidence in policing," he said.

No mention is made of the way that District Policing Partnerships also offer community involvement through local community forums.

This may be because these are taken-up in a patchy manner, with some areas better represented than others.

In Newtownabbey, for example, four were established, though only two now meet regularly, with the others being less successful at attracting members of the public - a situation reflected across NI.

Successes are limited, with, for example, a packed Antrim Line Community Policing Forum last month hearing from area officer, Inspector Martin Ruddy that burglaries involved the thieves entering premises through windows and doors that had been left unlocked - and urged people to be vigilant - as well as keep the police informed of suspicious activities.

See: Burglaries Highlighted After Assault

(BMcC)