11293 report 19 - CAIN - University of Ulster

commissioner’s overviewFollowing approval of the contract for police officer recruitment in 2001, Consensia developed acomprehensive recruitment and selection programme that included imaginative and persistentadvertising, a comprehensive, multi-faceted selection process involving lay observers and assessors,which provided for the appointment of an equal number of qualified Catholics and other thanCatholics from established merit pools. 1 Eleven recruitments competitions have been completedand competition 12 is underway (April 2007). Consensia has received over 112,300 requests forapplicant information packs, which resulted in over 72,900 actual applications being received.Nearly 36% have been from Catholics and just over 35% from women. The applicant rate hascontinually exceeded projections and has produced an abundance of qualified recruits, nearly 25%of which have college degrees.Through April of 2007 almost 2500 have been processed fortraining on a 50:50 basis. Of the selected candidate police officers, some 36% have been women.By April of 2007, the percentage of Catholic police officers stood at 21% and is expected to reachthe goal of 30% by 2010/2011. Present recruitment projections indicate that there will continue tobe a greater number of qualified recruits than the Police Service is able to accept into training.Following approval of the contract for the recruitment of civilian staff in 2002, GraftonRecruitment developed a comprehensive recruitment programme for civilian support staff similarto the one for police officers. 2 The programme includes an innovative and imaginative, broadlybased advertising strategy designed to reach groups currently under-represented in the PoliceService.There is an established set of job-related competencies that each civilian support staffapplicant must meet in order to be entered into a merit pool for selection to those positions.They have proportionally achieved similar success to that of the Consensia Partnership.The Police Service has undertaken a number of youth and school contact initiatives in support oflong-term recruitment goals, as well as to generally improve relationships with young people. Thepolitical situation up to the present time has made the delivery of school programmes difficult,particularly in underrepresented areas. The changing political climate should improve thiscapability in the future.The Independent Commission noted that the training, education and development of policeofficers and civilian staff would be critical to the success of the Police Service’s transformation, andfuture. The evolving training enterprise has had to meet major challenges including six Heads ofTraining in seven years as well as the displacement of police college personnel for a number ofadministrative reasons including promotions, transfers and retirements. Despite theseimpediments, the Police College and the Staff of the Training, Education and Development (TED)enterprise have worked hard and effectively in their attempt to meet the recommendations of theIndependent Commission’s report. Innovative learning and development skills sets have beenintroduced, along with the successful implementation of state-of-the-art information andcommunication technology, a challenge in and of itself. Encouraging news is that the Governmentannounced support and a commitment to funding the new Cookstown area Police College in aninnovative partnership with the Northern Ireland Fire/Rescue and Prison Services. Good oversightof the training regime is now in place, which includes a renewed Police Learning Advisory Council(PLAC). As well, the Policing Board established of a system of eight Key Performance Indicators1The Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 authorises the appointment of an equal number ofProtestant and Catholic police officers.2Consistent with the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000, when recruiting for six or more civilianposts at the same level, an equal number of Catholics and those other than Catholic must beappointed. When recruiting for less than six posts at the same time, the 50:50 recruitingrequirement does not apply.13