150 delegates are attending a major conference today (3 November) organised by the Policing Board and the Police Service of Northern Ireland to consider the future challenges for policing in Northern Ireland.
Drawing on a range of expert opinions and practitioner experiences, the conference will explore how the PSNI can effect real change and reduce harm in our community by working with other public sector organisations; the internal and external factors that support confidence building and effectiveness; and how community outcomes are measured within policing and other agencies.
Policing Board Chair Anne Connolly said: “In the Executive’s new Programme for Government, there is a strength and focus on collaboration and outcomes, a significant challenge and change for how our policing and public sector services work and will deliver services into the future.
The vulnerability issues that policing are now regularly dealing with require so much more than a policing solution and need interventions by other departments such as health, probation and education.
We want to focus attention today on some of those issues so that we can make plans for policing to meet the challenges ahead and meet the needs of the community effectively.”
Chief Constable George Hamilton said: “Throughout today there will be contributions not only from policing, but also our partners in the criminal justice system and across public services as well as the voluntary and private sectors. This collective approach is critical because, policing can only ever be effective when it is a partnership.
Given the significant budget pressures we face in the years ahead, I believe the public need to be involved in an ongoing conversation about how we deliver our Service to the community. I want to be open and honest with the public about how policing is changing and I know that through the Policing Board and the PCSPs, the community will continue to have an opportunity to shape policing priorities.”
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For further information please contact the Northern Ireland Policing Board Communications Office on 07810 521052