The North's Policing Board chairman and the PSNI Chief Constable have agreed a radical programme to put more officers on patrol and halt the slide in public confidence in the PSNI.
Prof Desmond Rea, after consultation with Mr Hugh Orde, today releases a plan for the PSNI for the next 36 months. In it, they set out commitments to use the service's £700 million budget to strive for objectives ranging from reduction of crime and disorder to delivering justice, reversing the slip in public confidence and, critically, implementing a programme of continuing structural change.
Progress on these objectives, arrived at by the Policing Board in conjunction with the Northern Secretary and senior PSNI figures, will be monitored on a regular basis and measured against specific performance indicators.
The 46-page plan marks a cultural shift from the ethos of the RUC, which was replaced by the new service in November 2001.
There are references to the need for an improvement to the rate of public satisfaction with the police. Confidence levels have slipped, with satisfaction in the policing of public disorder slumping to 35 per cent last September from 43 per cent in October 2000. The percentage of those who think the police are doing a good job stands at 61 per cent, down from 68 per cent over the same time-scale. The policing plan wants to see a 70 per cent approval rate in 12 months.
There are renewed commitments to "civilianise" up to 650 police posts now staffed by officers and to decentralise further the administration of the service and to devolve power from police headquarters in Belfast to the districts. Absenteeism, once running at around 1,000 a day, has fallen under the 700 mark, and there are commitments to further reductions.
The policing plan, the second published by the board since its foundation 16 months ago, also includes financial estimates and accepts a need to develop better costing systems.
Publication comes at a sensitive time, both in terms of policing and politics with the imminent establishment of District Policing Partnerships (DPPs) to provide local community input into community policing decisions, and also with the possibility of Sinn Féin endorsement of the new policing arrangements.
Controversial measures to allow former paramilitary prisoners to join the DPPs are expected to be put before the House of Commons this week.
In his foreword, Prof Rea pointed to the links he hopes local police commanders will form with the DPPs.
"District commanders will reflect the objectives contained in this plan when they work with their district policing partnerships to make sure that the needs of local communities are taken into account when developing local policing plans," he says.
The plan echoes commitments made by the Chief Constable, Mr Hugh Orde, to devolve authority and to empower local officers as part of the effort to maximise public trust in the force and to draw local communities into policing decisions.
In his foreword to the plan, Mr Orde stresses the importance of the potential role of DPPs in delivering local, accountable policing.