11293 report 19 - CAIN - University of Ulster

Sustainability and CapacityThe Independent Commission carefully wove a rich tapestry of 175 recommendations concerningthe future of policing in Northern Ireland, which if achieved would make it one of the mostefficient, effective and acceptable police services in the world. As this report indicates, there hasbeen tremendous progress toward making that aspirational goal a reality. The question for thefuture is whether or not the change is sustainable? The ability of the Police Service of NorthernIreland to maintain its focus and growth must endure beyond the Independent Commission’srecommendations and the current leadership; in other words the changes not only need to benurtured, but they must be embedded and sustained.The following are some examples of the sustainability challenges that require future capacity:1. The issue with a human rights policing ethos now moves to measuring performance outcomes.This will determine whether or not the ethos is embedded, especially for the future of thecohort of approximately 2,500 police officers recruited and trained to date as a result of theIndependent Commission’s recommendations.The Policing Board has the capacity, through itsHuman Rights advisors, to monitor this and it will be important to maintain that capacity.2. Policing with the Community is another key recommendation and one in which we note goodprogress. However we also note that it had reached a plateau. 1 It will be important that thePolice Service focus capacity on sustaining this initiative, and that the Policing Board retain thecapacity to effectively monitor outcomes.3. The lack of progress in changing the estate, as envisioned by the Independent Commission hasbeen a disappointment 2 , and will now face major fiscal hurdles as a result of the lostopportunity. Nevertheless, it will be important to retain some financial capacity to sustain thechanges to the ‘bricks and mortar’ face of policing and the Policing Board will need theresource capacity to push this agenda.4. Information technology (IT) is another huge resource drain. Although the IndependentCommission intent will not be met 3 , technology acquisition and training are huge drivers ofpolicing change and the pressure for more acquisition will be relentless, with huge resourcingimplications. As such, it will be important for the Policing Board to retain the capacity togovern and manage the strategic process.5. Another resource intensive challenge relates to the training enterprise. The IndependentCommission recognised the importance of training for the process of change, and sustainabilityof that change, through a number of training recommendations. The risk is that the future fiscalrealities, discussed below, will create pressure for a reduction of training funds at a time whenthey are needed to maintain, develop and sustain the human resources required for policing the2141See Thematic Report ‘Policing with the Community’,Appendix A, Report 12, Oversight Commissioner,December 20042See Recommendation 53 of this report.3See Recommendation 93 of this report