11293 report 19 - CAIN - University of Ulster

which benchmark and measure training success. The Police College Northern Ireland (PCNI)currently has a number of academic and professional accreditations, and further details can befound in the Training Chapter.The Police College has trained or has in process almost 2,500 new recruits and the programmecontinues to be progressive with the introduction of modifications to meet the ever increasingdemands of a changing policing environment. The Police College has demonstrated its ability toadapt to emerging training needs such as developing the training modules for the Police OfficerPart-Time (POPT), which included off-site training through community colleges as well as e-learning techniques. In response to the Police Service’s restructuring ahead of the Review of PublicAdministration (RPA) changes, the Police College was proactive in developing a series of fivemodules to be delivered to the new DCU Commanders and management teams appointed tohead the eight new DCUs.Culture, ethos and symbols were considered by the Independent Commission to be important forhow policing saw itself, and how others perceived it. There were a number of recommendationsthat covered the name of the Police Service, uniform and badge, memorials and the establishmentof a neutral working environment. All of these have been accomplished and increasinglyembedded in the organisational culture.International and north/south cooperation was deemed important by the IndependentCommission, as they were conscious of globalised crime and the need for networked policing tocombat the phenomenon. Since then international terrorism has been added to the mix and theIndependent Commission’s recommendations assume even more importance today. Consistentprogress has been made by the Police Service, with the two north/south governments facilitating alegislative base from which the PSNI and An Garda Siochana can exchange officers. Annualconferences, joint disaster planning, training exchanges and a joined up effort to combat organisedcrime are some of the initiatives. While more in the way of exchanges and international trainingcan occur, thereby developing the next generation of police leaders, there has been good overallprogress toward accomplishing the Independent Commission’s intent.Remaining Areas of ConcernAs noted in this report, human rights policing performance monitoring by the Policing Board andits human rights advisors is very systematically and ably conducted. In addition, a variety of otheragencies such as the Ombudsman, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, and NGO’s suchas the Committee for the Administration of Justice (CAJ) and others do monitor policingperformance issues. There are just two issues to highlight and they deal more with eventualoutcomes than specifics.14The first is with respect to human rights training (Recommendation 4) which was seen as essentialto the Independent Commission’s vision for a “new beginning” to policing in Northern Ireland.Serious efforts have been made to increase the knowledge of recruits in the importance andapplicability of human rights to policing, and to incorporate these principles into advanced andspecialised training. Nonetheless, effective training remains in our view the greatest challenge withrespect to the implementation of the human rights recommendations. Specifically with referenceto our performance indicators published in 2001, the Police Service needs to demonstrate that