While enormous progress has been made since the launch of the PSNI in 2001, there will always be a range of matters surrounding policing which require careful consideration and measured dialogue.
The Northern Ireland Policing Board has a central role to play in this frequently difficult process, as does the office of the Police Ombudsman, but it is essential that it also extends into the wider community on both a formal and informal basis.
There can only be profound regret that a conference for young people at Derry’s Guildhall in which politicians, community representatives, PSNI officers and former prisoners were due to participate was cancelled on Wednesday after statements indicated that it would be the target of protests.
The Long Tower Youth and Community Centre in the city set up the initiative as part of a wider attempt to explore issues which are directly related to the lives of its members in a strongly nationalist district.
All the indications are that robust but hopefully constructive exchanges were likely to follow during the course of the day, with the PSNI’s approach to both house raids and stop and search procedures among the topics on the agenda.
Unfortunately, the proceedings never got under way because of an objection from Saoradh, which on its website describes itself as a revolutionary republican party committed to campaigning against imperialism and capitalism.
Organisers at the Long Tower Centre said they were ready to enter discussions with Saoradh, which has been widely linked to dissident figures, but the group said it would only engage if the event did not take place.
In the circumstances, and with the prospect of school children facing pickets at the Guildhall, the gathering was inevitably abandoned and the opportunity to have senior police officers questioned about their policies was lost.
It will be noted that the DUP MLA Gary Middleton responded to the development by saying that it was time for those who speak for the majority of nationalists in the city to `step forward and demonstrate the leadership they are so ready to demand from others.’
However, Mr Middleton should be prepared to accept that both Sinn Féin and the SDLP have already made a significant contribution over many years by taking their seats on the Policing Board and with others helping to ensure that the oversight of policing is seen to be in a new era.
It is disappointing that the Guildhall forum did not happen but it would be entirely wrong to imply that mainstream nationalist politicians could somehow have insisted that a fringe outfit like Saoradh should withdraw its opposition.
The Long Tower Centre deserve to be commended for all its efforts to date and it must be hoped that the views of all sections of society will be heard clearly as the complex but vital debate on the future of policing moves forward.
