Chris Patten delivered a lecture last week in tribute to Seamus Mallon. The same Chris Patten that chaired the group that drew up the report and the recommendations that brought the new police service, the PSNI, into being. That was twenty years ago this year.
Policing has been caught up in the political storms that have been blowing around the north in recent months. The most acute moment was when Arlene Foster called on the present chief constable to resign in the aftermath of the Bobby Storey funeral. That was possibly one of the worst political interventions witnessed in forty or so years. Why Arlene didn’t see the need to moderate and nuance that call adds to the evidence that the demise of the former first minister was not solely due to her refusal to vote against conversion therapy.
There are strong memories, good and bad, about policing in both parts of this island. It is overly simplistic but not untrue to say that after partition an unarmed police service in the south gradually won the confidence and support of the community while in the north a heavily armed police force only gained the confidence and support of a section of the community.
It is also overly simplistic but not untrue to say that in the wake of the Patten recommendations, a modern and professional police service was established in the north while the police in the south degenerated into a poorly organised, ill equipped and outdated force that overly depended on its former reputation.
What is true is that An Garda Síochána lost two commissioners in quick succession and were embroiled in a political dispute about the integrity of its governance and leadership. That eventually led to the appointment of a senior PSNI officer who initially served in the RUC and who appears to have greatly stabilised the organisation and who is seen to call upon many of the Patten recommendations and values in his public discourse.
Neither of the two police forces hold their once central position. Kevin O’Higgins, the minister responsible for the establishment of the Garda believed that if the police service didn’t succeed, normal government would be impossible. The northern government used the police as a bulwark against an unruly and hostile constituency. In the hundredth anniversary of partition, the existential debate about the political future of the island itself is now central. One of the roles of policing is to allow that debate happen without interference from those on either extreme side who think that violence should be determining, rather than the will and the vote of the people.
While no longer crucial, policing is still important and there is a surfeit of evidence that bad policing is detrimental to the quality of communal living. And policing is mostly about the bits and pieces of everyday life. The concerns and the trust of the wee man and woman are equally important to those of the powerful and influential. Protestant theologians of yesteryears were partial to the dictate ‘ecclesia semper reformanda’, which really means that all powerful organisations are in need of constant reform. Because Chris Patten did a good job is no reason to think that policing is no longer in need of scrutiny.
Within the parameters and ethos of policing the PSNI has been a success. It has embedded itself in the trust and confidence of most of the community. It has made many mistakes and missed many opportunities to do better. It is approaching its 21st birthday which is a good time to reflect on its future. One of Patten’s recommendations was a periodic review of the desirability of an unarmed police service.
That and a light touch review of performance would now stand the PSNI in good stead and position it properly for the future political storms that lie ahead.
