Author: Northern Ireland. Criminal Justice Inspection
Title: A Review of the Criminal Justice System’s Preparedness for Exceptional or Prolonged Public Disorder
Summary: This report assesses how the criminal justice system is preparing to deal with the potential of serious, prolonged and widespread disorder associated around controversial parades, the flying of the Union flag, the G8 summit and other significant events which are due to take place in Northern Ireland during the next six months from June 2013. Our history is littered with significant outbreaks of public disorder, which on occasions has verged on anarchy. In response, policing in Northern Ireland has developed a history and tradition for managing the impacts of such violence, and the wider criminal justice system has, to varying degrees, dealt with the eventual consequences. However we are in a different era where successful public sector organisations now invest heavily in developing their strategic planning capability. It is no different for the police, and risk assessment and risk management processes are key influences in developing an overall strategy for dealing with significant events which may result in public disorder. There is an expectation that the strategic planning for such eventualities should be both extensive and up-to-date, and that issues such as capability, capacity and resilience are considered, together with the development of a broad range of contingency plans. This report finds that significant effort is being applied by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in preparation for the forthcoming parading season and specific events. The PSNI has increased its own capacity, and has trained and equipped officers to step up into this specialist activity. In addition, police officers from other parts of the United Kingdom were, at the time of fieldwork, to be deployed in support of the PSNI to deal specifically with the G8 summit. The planning and negotiation required to arrive at this position was extensive and while more work needed to be done prior to the summit, we were satisfied with the progress that had been made. The report highlights the need for an effective response from the wider criminal justice system to support the rule of law and to provide reassurance to the public that the agencies are working together to protect them and deal expeditiously with those who seek to destabilise our society.
Details: Belfast: Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland, 2013. 38p.
Source: Internet Resource: accessed July 9, 2013 at:
Year: 2013
Country: United Kingdom
URL:
Shelf Number: 129342
Keywords:
Crowd ControlPublic DisorderPublic Order Management (Northern Ireland) |
