Police Service of Northern Ireland

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PSNI emblem

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) ( Irish Seirbhís Phóilíneachta Thuaisceart Éireann , in German  "Police Service of Northern Ireland" ) is the reformed police force in Northern Ireland and is thus the successor organization to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).

prehistory

The majority of the members of the RUC (92%) used to be Protestants , while Catholics rarely joined. This was based on the one hand on distrust of an organization that was viewed as denominationally dominated; on the other hand, Catholics feared reprisals from their own social environment. This led to the fact that not only the problem of the one-sided personnel structure became independent; Catholics also avoided calling or cooperating with the police in the event of a crime. As a result of these developments occurred in predominantly Catholic neighborhoods to states that at lawlessness marginalized or where the executive power of the IRA was acquired.

Reforms

As a result, reforms of the RUC were decided in the course of implementing the Good Friday Agreement . They were based on the recommendations of the Patten Report named after Chris Patten , which suggested the following measures:

  • The name change: This became necessary because, in the eyes of many Catholics, the Crown's claim to Northern Ireland was manifested with the “Royal” in the name of the police.
  • The workforce was reduced to 7,000 positions. All remaining members of the RUC were automatically accepted into the PSNI, but new applicants must come equally from both population groups.
  • The new police authority is monitored by a non-partisan body, the Policing Board .
  • The new appearance is underlined by a new uniform. This finds its special expression in the new emblem: further symbols are added to the crown and harp: the clover leaf, the torch, the laurel branch and the scales of justice .

The measures came into force on November 4, 2001. The office is in Belfast .

The police force is explicitly committed to the denominational proportional representation for new hires. Since Poland joined the European Union in 2004, there has been an increased acceptance of Polish Catholics into the police, who are thus fulfilling this task.

criticism

The transformation of the RUC is controversial. The Protestant side criticizes that too many concessions were made. In particular, the memory of the members of the RUC who perished in the performance of their service was not satisfied. The abolition of the old name is seen as an admission of defeat to the republican movement.

In the criticism of the Catholic population, the measures are often dismissed as purely cosmetic; Except for the outside, nothing would have changed. The PSNI is also suspicious of the Protestant RUC. Another point of criticism concerns the responsibility of the new police: the police are still subordinate to the British government in London. For this reason, Sinn Féin refuses to exercise his mandate on the Policing Board. Another stumbling block is the pursuit of intelligence activities, which should not be the responsibility of the police, but of the British domestic secret service MI 5 . At an extraordinary party conference of the Sinn Féin on January 28, 2007, the overwhelming majority of the members voted in support of the new police force in Northern Ireland, paving the way for the renewed convening of a local government in Belfast .

The stated aim of police reform in Northern Ireland is to use the PSNI to create a police force that is viewed by all segments of the population of Northern Ireland as impartial and impartial.

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