Sometimes, it’s worth remembering how far we’ve come.
‘Looking back over the past decade, the landscape of policing in Northern Ireland has been transformed,’ foreign affairs minister Micheál Martin said today. ‘The PSNI is a modern police service, one which is representative of the community that it serves.’
‘The blueprint for that transformation was the Patten Report, internationally regarded as the model for representative and accountable policing.’
‘The development of community confidence in policing in the North has in turn strengthened the ongoing political process. All of us who share this island have benefited.’
‘The new Chief Constable, Matt Baggott, will take up duty later this month. He faces the challenging task of furthering the development of the PSNI as it continues to deal with an evolving policing backdrop.’
‘In order to mark the achievements of the past decade in transforming policing in the North, the British and Irish Governments have invited the Royal Irish Academy to prepare a book drawing lessons from the Report of the Independent Commission on Policing and its implementation.’
‘Contributions have been sought from former members of the Commission as well as others directly involved in the implementation process. Publication is envisaged for Spring 2010.’
