Confidence In Policing Grows

While a deadly threat from republican dissidents remains - on occasions preventing a 'normal' policing service being provided - there's good news this week on how NI's police service is being viewed.

The Northern Ireland Policing Board has just published the results of the latest survey on public perceptions of the service delivered by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the Board and District Policing Partnerships (DPPs).

Welcoming the results, Chairman of the Board, Professor Sir Desmond Rea, said: "The vast majority of people (93%) feel very/fairly safe in their local community and 86% of respondents have some, or a a lot or total confidence in the PSNI's ability to provide a day-to-day policing service for everyone in Northern Ireland.

"This exceeds the target of 84% set by the Board in the latest Policing Plan," he said, yesterday, noting that, overall, the results are very positive and are "good news that people are feeling safer in their communities and that confidence in policing has increased".

Sir Desmond continued: "The survey findings show that just over three fifths of those questioned (62%) felt that the PSNI does a very or fairly good job of policing their local area, and just over two thirds (68%) believe the PSNI is doing a very/fairly good job in Northern Ireland as a whole," he continued.

In respect of DPPs, Sir Desmond said that the results show that 69% of respondents who had heard of DPPs felt that they help address policing problems.

"However, only 56% were prepared to contact their local DPP regarding local policing issues," he commented.

The DPPs - and associated local community policing forums - provide a way for the local community to discuss policing in their area and to highlight any issues that can have a significant impact on the quality of life.

On a less positive note, just 30% of respondents who had heard of the NI Policing Board thought that it did well/very well in consulting the public on policing issues.

However, earlier this year, Northern Ireland's top policeman again said he believes dissident republican terrorists are out to shoot or otherwise kill his officers in the Province - even if it means taking innocent civilians with them.

He said that dissident republicans are at the "top end of activity" and are trying to recruit "young disenfranchised people" to help swell their relatively meagre ranks.

Underlining their deadly intentions, he said: "All the indications are they want to kill police," he said.

Over the last year there have been several republican gun and bomb attacks on police officers, both on and off duty, some resulting in serious injuries and while others are often being detected and dealt with before their deadly intent can take place, a very high level of risk in many areas remains an impediment to normalised community-based policing activities.

See: Republican Dissidents 'Rounded-Up', But Deadly Threat Remains