Public safety a 'police priority'

Public safety a 'police priority'

The Policing Board's priority is public safety, says its chairman

Helping people feel safe is the top priority of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the head of the Policing Board has said.

Professor Desmond Rea was speaking on Wednesday following a spate of violent attacks on people in areas across Northern Ireland.

A man is critically ill after he was attacked with a hammer as he lay in his bed in his south Belfast home at the weekend.

Maurice McCracken, 54, suffered serious head injuries when a gang of four men attacked him at his Strangford Avenue home in the Balmoral area.

"There is a commitment to improve safety and to improve reassurance especially to those, like the elderly, who feel at risk," said Professor Des Rea.

The central pillar of policing is policing with the community

Professor Desmond Rea

He said measures were being taken to put more police on the ground to combat crime and to reduce sickness levels in the police force.

"A central part of the policing plan relates to community safety it relates to the improvement of the safety and the reassurance of the public especially at those of risk," he said.

"What the Policing Board has sought to do is at a strategic level is to support and shape operational activity and the workforce plan getting police out on the ground is a central thrust of that.

"At the district level we are setting up structure partnerships, the DPPs in which the communities will be involved.

"The central pillar of policing is policing with the community."

Stormont criminal justice minister Des Browne said the evidence suggests the police service had the balance right in dealing with violent crime.

"We are putting in place a structure which will involve the communities and will allow the communities to have a proper say in the way in which their communities are policed concentrating on the issues that matter to them. That is the way to tackle this," he said.

'Real issue'

More than 100 residents attended a meeting on Monday evening to discuss crime in south Belfast.

The meeting in Ballynafeigh was organised by the SDLP in response to fears among local people of a crime wave in the area.

Speaking after the meeting South Belfast resident Bob Strong said people were living in fear.

"There is a lot of crime and people are saying to the residents associations, to their councillors and to their assembly members that this is a very real issue that is starting to affect people in very real ways," he said.

SDLP assembly member Carmel Hanna gave the meeting her full support.

"We are going to put a group together representing all the areas to work with the politicians to work with the police and see where we can go forward from here with some constructive proposals," she said.