An agreement between the Policing with the Community Strategy 2020 and the Northern Ireland Policing Board has been made to begin implementation of the new policy next month. It is designed to keep victims of crimes informed about the status and progress of the ongoing investigation into the relevant incident.
The last strategy to be produced by the Policing with the Community group was only targeted towards the PSNI’s Neighbourhood Policing Teams, which is roughly 10% of the police force. This new agreement applies to the entire PSNI, and also includes measures like specific timeframes for responding to call-outs and guidelines for officer conduct.
Alex Maskey, a Sinn Fein Policing Board member, gave this quote in response to today’s announcement: ‘This new strategy which we have agreed with the PSNI is an in-depth way of saying that every single officer [has] to do their job on the basis that they have to work with the community, they have to engage with the public and they have to go into partnership with the community to tackle problems’.
Read more about this story at the Belfast Telegraph.
