APPENDIX 13
Memorandum submitted by Cookstown District
Policing Partnership
I refer to your letter dated 27 September requesting
feedback on the work of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
I note from your request for information you wish
to draw on District Policing Partnership (DPP) experience in the
three categories detailed in your letter. Bearing this in mind,
the intention of the following submission is in respect of the
Board's functions which directly impact upon the work of DPPs.
1.PROGRESS TOWARDS
DEVELOPING THE
BOARD'S
ROLE SINCE
IT WAS
SET UP
IN NOVEMBER
2001As you are no doubt aware, DPPs were not officially established
until March 2003 and for that reason the Partnership cannot comment
on the establishment period of the Board. It may however be useful
if you consulted reports from the Office of the Oversight Commissioner
which provide an overview of how the Government's Implementation
Plan for Policing has been implemented since its publication in
September 2001.
The Office of the Oversight Commissioner has identified
772 performance indicators based on the implementation plan, many
of which are directly related to the role and general function
of the Policing Board.
However, whilst reports of the Office of the Oversight
Commissioner will generally provide a quantitative overview on
how the Board may be developing its role in line with the Implementation
Plan it may only provide a limited qualitative analysis of how
roles are been taken forward and developed.
2.PERFORMANCE OF
THE BOARD
IN RESPECT
OF ITS
GENERAL FUNCTIONSAgain,
the Partnership is not in a position to evaluate the performance
of the Board, especially in respect of those functions which do
not directly impact on its work as we have not been engaged in
a systematic appraisal process of the Board upon which we can
draw conclusions. We however, wish to make the following comments.
Of the Board's general functions most pertinent to
the work of DPPs, "to assess the level of public satisfaction
with performance of the police and DPPs" and "to
assess the effectiveness of DPPs in performing their functions,
in particular, arrangements made to obtain the views of the public
about matters concerning policing, and the Co-operation of the
public with the police in preventing crime" some comments
can be made.
(1)Whilst the Board has undertaken numerous attitudinal
surveys to assess public satisfaction with DPP performance Members
need more focused training on their role and what they are expected
to achieve during their term in office. Members feel it unfair
that the DPP should be assessed on its performance when there
has been little clarity on their role and what is expected from
them. The Partnership believes that every new Member should receive
comprehensive training on the Code of Practice, the Police (NI)
Act 2000, PSNI structures, community safety and the context in
which policing currently operates—the "Patten Report".Partnership
Members therefore feel it unfair to assess performance if they
are not given the necessary training to equip them with the tools
and knowledge to achieve maximum performance.To alleviate this
the Partnership believes the Board should consider wiling out
a training package for new members of all DPPs, by way of briefing
them on exactly what, and how, they are expected to contribute
during their term in office. The opportunity for this will arise
immediately after the appointment of new members in June 2005.With
regard to this general function there is a need for the Board
to expand upon its role and advise DPPs, where appropriate, of
the measures they could take to increase public satisfaction if
they are underperforming. The Board should consider acting as
a "consultancy service" offering advice to DPPs on how
they could improve their public satisfaction levels. Without such
guidance, gathering information on public satisfaction on an annual
basis becomes a meaningless exercise unless pro-active action
is taken to rectify the situation.
(2)When assessing the effectiveness of individual
DPPs in undertaking their functions the Board should ensure the
involvement of DPPs at some stage in the process, and not merely
be an office based exercise. The process should be an in-depth
qualitative analysis of each DPP on a case by ease basis, therefore
not solely relying upon quantitative information alone ie number
of reports submitted on time, number of targets successfully negotiated
into local policing plans etc to draw conclusions in terms of
effectiveness.
With specific reference to the DPP role in obtaining
the co-operation of the public with the police to prevent crime,
some ambiguity still remains over how this should be achieved
at a local level. Whilst partnerships are keen to deliver upon
this function as a means of impacting upon crime many are unaware
what can or cannot be done within the remit of this function due
to the emergence of community safety partnerships.
The Board should therefore consider providing clear
guidelines on how Partnerships can deliver upon this function
without impacting upon the work of community safety partnership.
In doing so, the Board should also work with the Northern Ireland
Office to ensure community safety partnerships do not conflict
with the work of district policing partnerships.
By way of the Board assisting and advising DPPs on
obtaining the co-operation of the public with the police to prevent
crime they should consider taking more of a developmental role
whereby providing practical demonstration projects on how best
to do this. Such examples may be obtained from crime and disorder
partnerships in England and be demonstrated through a local "pathfinder
initiative scheme" not dissimilar to the system used within
local government in England and Wales.
3.THE EFFICIENCY
AND EFFECTIVENESS
OF THE
STRUCTURE, ADMINISTRATION
AND EXPENDITURE
OF THE
BOARD, INCLUDING
ITS PERFORMANCE
AGAINST KEY
INDICATORS AND
TARGETSAs the Board has a number
of Departments to deliver its varying functions thePartnership
can only comment on the one with responsibility for DPP's, namely
Community Affairs.
The Partnership feels Community Affairs must be applauded
for their work in setting up DPPs across Northern Ireland given
the time constraints involved, and for the invaluable advice provided
since March 2003.
The Partnership does however feel Community Affairs
should now take on more of a developmental role and begin to assist
DPPs in expanding upon the interpretation of the functions Set
Out in the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000, taking DPP work
one step further. This may, for example require the Board to reassess
the DPP Code of Practice to allow partnerships the freedom to
deal with local situations, allowing greater flexibility in how
they work. Community Affairs may also wish to consider using its
Regional Co-ordinators to look at some of the issues raised at
2. above.
15 October 2004
| 
