Subscriber OnlyOpinion

Unrealisable expectation goes some way to explaining what has gone wrong in policing in Northern Ireland

PSNI crisis is being crudely, but not unjustly, seen as Sinn Féin demanding heads of two officers - and DUP and UUP demanding heads of leadership for bowing to this pressure

Northern Ireland Policing Board chairwoman Deirdre Toner and vice-chairman Edgar Jardine during a press conference following a meeting in Belfast to discuss the recruitment of a new chief constable for the PSNI after the resignation of Simon Byrne. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Denis Bradley
Sat Sep 9 2023 - 06:45

One narrative about the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)’s recent controversies says that Simon Byrne, its chief constable, made too many mistakes. His position no longer tenable, falling on his sword was inevitable. Another narrative is that Simon Byrne and the PSNI are sacrificial victims to the gods of political change and the ruthlessness that it begets. Both narratives have fragments of the truth.

The effectiveness and leadership of policing is being contested throughout the length and breadth of Ireland and Britain, and Simon Byrne is not the only one who faced a confidence vote. It is not easy to police any modern society and even more difficult to police one in which the very essence of its existence is in transition and its legitimacy continues to be tested by a small group of militant paramilitaries.

The incident that brought the mounting tensions to the present crisis is being crudely, but not unjustly, seen as Sinn Féin demanding the heads of two officers for making arrests at a commemoration at Graham’s bookmaker’s shop massacre, and the DUP and the UUP demanding the heads of the present PSNI leadership for bowing to that pressure.

It is generally accepted that the Patten-led transformation of the RUC into the PSNI, and the accompanying governance mechanisms, have worked well. The reformed service is overseen by a policing board made up of political parties and a quota of independent members. The different but complementary roles of the police and the board were clearly detailed in the Patten Report, with an even clearer analysis that change, and effectiveness, would only happen if both carried out their role well.

READ MORE

Something serious has gone wrong. Byrne’s resignation has opened windows into discontent and low morale among rank-and-file officers, and exposed a disconnect between those on the front line and those holding offices of rank and authority. The competence and the relevance of the board has also begun to be questioned.

The board is to be the incarnation of the community, representative of its political diversity and its social classes. It is to give to the political parties their rightful place and authority. But it also constrains them from partisan and party politics

As is usual in this type of crisis, attention quickly moves to the next chapter and to the person who is going to succeed him as the new chief constable. A job description will be drawn up and circulated by the board. But commentary has already begun about the qualities necessary for such a difficult, pressurised and well-paid position. That commentary will advise that the task should be given to someone who understands Northern Ireland, who can read the political signs of the day and the times and the place, be operationally independent, win the confidence of the political parties and resist any undue political interference.

[ Who will be the PSNI's next head? Candidates who could take on the toughest job in policing ]

[ Selection process for new PSNI chief constable to be completed in November ]

It is difficult to resist the temptation to say that we will all have one of those please.

And yet that unrealisable expectation goes some way to explaining what has gone wrong in policing in Northern Ireland. Because it reveals a misunderstanding of the Patten reforms, which put as much emphasis, maybe even more, on the board as it did on the police themselves. The board is to be the incarnation of the community, representative of its political diversity and its social classes. It is to give to the political parties their rightful place and authority. But it also constrains them from partisan and party politics by the vote and the authority of the independent members, who have adequate votes to outmuscle any single political party that opts for party political gain at the expense of good and impartial policing.

Choppy waters

In assessing the board, it should be remembered and acknowledged that it is still in existence and still operating. This is not the first time it has had to gather up the fallout from relational and operational difficulties and mistakes. It is, as it has been a few times in the past, the only place where political parties sit down together, with a smattering of independent men and women and steer a way through choppy waters. It is imperfect but it still is – and for that we should be grateful.

There is a criticism that the board and its workings are muted to the point of anonymity. That certainly was not the intention of Patten, who saw it as the voice of the community, which would drive forward the reforms that would transition the police from the semi paramilitary force of the Troubles into a service that was distinguished by community-based policing. The anonymity may have arisen from the threat of dissident republicans to members of the board or it may have had its origins in a belief that the board was too often in the headlights because the political institutions were paroled or indefinitely suspended.

The board has decided that it needs to review the stature of the leadership of the PSNI as currently constituted but it has also agreed to review the board itself and its workings. In that review, it will be important to understand and highlight the role and the authority of the independent members. Politicians do what they do, most especially when they know the cameras and the microphones are outside the door. That is not going to change.

But the great thing about politicians is that they always know where the votes are. If they judge that independents are singular entities that can be picked up or picked off, that is what will happen. If they are faced with a consensual group, led by the independent chair and vice chair, with as much clarity as possible about what is right for the police and good for the community, then the politicians will bow to that reality.

Someone once said that policing was too important to be left to the police. True, and there are moments when policing is too important to be left to the politicians. This feels like one of those moments.

Denis Bradley is a former vice-chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

READ NEXT
LATEST STORIES