Progress or Placebo? The Patten Report and the Future of Policing in Northern Ireland
by Maggie Beirne
There will be some that claim that government cannot move fast on certain issues, precisely because policing in Northern Ireland is such a divisive issue. Significantly, none of the important issues listed above divide nationalist and unionist. They do, however, clearly divide those who want to defend the status quo, from those who want a police service that is impartial, representative, and accountable - able and willing to ensure that the rule of law is upheld. Delays to date have meant that any change that has taken place has been dictated by those who have been responsible for policing over the last 30 years and who have resisted change in the past. Only a third or less of Patten's recommendations resulted in proposals for legislative change, so that the vast majority of the programme of change has been left to the discretion of senior civil servants, and the Chief Constable. Indeed, much of the change - whether in terms of police training, police re-organisation, or in terms of crucial decisions relating to Special Branch, detention centres, the use of plastic bullets, or the extent of stop-and-search activities - lies largely at the discretion of the Chief Constable alone. Only with the appointment of a new Policing Board (the political composition of which is as yet uncertain), and/or an active high profile Oversight Commissioner, will people outside the policing establishment be able to influence or assess the extent of real change. As the external political and media debate focuses essentially around names and symbols, and allows the dispute to be characterised as nationalists versus unionists, the RUC carries on with its preparations for transition with little or no external scrutiny of its work.
Of course, no-one could expect radical change to be effectively led by those
currently in positions of responsibility - yet it is essentially the same
individuals and attitudes in the Northern Ireland Office, in the RUC, and
in the Police Authority, who presided over the past policing arrangements
and who are now responsible for implementing change. The parallels with
the experience in the Metropolitan Police and policing authorities post-Lawrence
Inquiry, whereby the police are seen to be actively taking back a sense
of ownership over the process of change and of the policing discourse, are
very evident (McLaughlin 2000). |
