You'd scarcely credit it but Sinn Fein's Alex Maskey is fuming with Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde and is demanding an apology after the chief of police allegedly claimed the policing board had "gone a bit tribal".

Supposedly Orde accused the elected members of being more interested in political debate than policing issues. Frankly, I suspect describing the debate as "political" was being generous.

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For some unionists, discrimination in 50:50 recruitment in the PSNI, whereby 50% of new recruits had to be "members of the Roman Catholic community", was perhaps the bitterest of bitter pills swallowed to garner nationalist support for policing here. The silver-lining appears to be that it is actually working.

Although it's impact upon clear-up rates and general police effectiveness is questionable, the 50:50 recruitment practice is succeeding in recruiting more Catholic police officers. In 1998 the percentage of RUC officers from a Catholic background was 8.3%; in February 2008 this figure for the PSNI was 23.7%. Paul Goggins, the minister responsible for security matters in Northern Ireland, said that this put them on course to achieve a target of 30% in 2010/2011.

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The Patten Commission was not a pleasant experience for Unionists. The abandonment of the historic name and symbols of the RUC GC was needless, insensitive, and damaging to Unionist confidence in the political process of the time. While this was not the only negative experience to come out of Patten, what we can say is a great many of the recommendations (PDF) in the report were good ones that have improved the already high standard of policing in Northern Ireland. One of these proposals, detailed at pages 62 and 63 of the Patten report, was the civilianisation of many tasks that were being undertaken by fully trained Police Officers. Police Officers are expensive to train and retain, this training is extensive and produces an excellent public servant for the betterment of the community. It is therefore demeaning to the officers, as well as a massive waste of public resources to have uniformed police officers manning reception desks of stations, and other such basic administrative tasks.

Despite the poor way in which the report was handled, the handful of appalling recommendations which were insensitively implemented, and the bad taste left by it in Northern Ireland, it has had a positive net effect on day to day policing. Therefore it is of note that the former Chief Constable of the RUC GC, who himself was "hurt" by the Patten report, has used his experience to implement Patten best practise across forces in England and Wales. The DPPs, the Ombudsman’s Office (which I think may have predated Patten slightly, but the point nevertheless stands), as well as civilianisation of administrative functions are positive developments in the policing of Northern Ireland, and the rest of the country can learn from our positive, if in places painful, example.

The republican splinter-group the Real IRA has an objective to get soldiers re-deployed on the streets of Northern Ireland.

With more attacks on the RUC/PSNI we believe we can reach the stage where British soldiers are brought back onto the streets to bolster the cops. This will shatter the facade that the British presence has gone and normality reigns.
Real IRA

After getting over the immense hypocrisy of a so-called separatist group actually attempting to have the "crown forces" deployed on their streets I dismissed the statement as (possibly drunken) wishful thinking on the part of the Real IRA and sensationalism on the part of the Sunday Tribune who carried the article, however the PSNI are taking the threat of dissident republicans relatively seriously and are increasing their activity, including additional vehicle checkpoints.

It remains to be seen whether or not this fringe grouping prove to be any real threat. Last November they shot and tried (but thankfully failed) to kill two off-duty police officers, including a Catholic officer shot outside a school in Londonderry where he'd just dropped his child off.

The question I keep coming back to is this: as a society we have already endorsed and rewarded one terrorist campaign by putting its participants in highly-paid government jobs, so how do we go about tackling a fresh one with a bit more of a backbone?

Over Christmas the PSNI caught 600 people drink-driving. 2 of those were off-duty PSNI officers.

Unlike Officer Geraldine Donnelly , who was caught before new policy came into effect, these 2 officers "if prosecuted", are likely to lose their jobs. If?! They deserve to lose their jobs on the grounds of gross stupidity to do something so idiotic; especially after the uproar Donnelly caused.

Slugger today highlighted a story from Friday when it was reported that a Resident Magistrate delivered a damning verdict on an investigation by the Police Ombudsman's office bringing into question the integrity of the body in charge of investigating complaints against the police.

The Ombudsman's office was set up following the Good Friday Agreement to oversee the work of the police and ensure that any complaints about the police would be investigated through an "independent, impartial police complaints system". The prosecution persecution of Constable Keith McCabe, described by a magistrate as a "witch-hunt", made a mockery of that whole idea.

Following a GAA match in Enniskillen, a GAA fan and "dissident" republican, Brian O'Connor, was arrested after shouting "Up the RA!" at a passing Royal Black Preceptory parade. O'Connor then alleged that he was assaulted by Constable McCabe on the grounds that McCabe used excessive force arresting him.

"Witch-Hunt" Directed at "Brave" Officer

The Police Ombudsman's office "investigated" and as a result of it's "investigation" the Public Prosecution Service decided to file charges against the arresting officer. However, the so-called investigation was blasted by the magistrate as having "all the hallmarks of a witch hunt" after it emerged that a doctor who examined O'Connor found no evidence of swelling or bruising and that the Ombudsman's office interviewed witnesses who backed up the allegations while ignoring independent witnesses that contradicted these claims. Other witnesses were also ignored, including other officers on duty, members of the Royal Black Preceptory who were present and even the girlfriend of one of O'Connor's friends (also present).

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Last night in the markets area in Belfast a group of "about 20" protestors (I presume that's including the kids) disrupted a DPP meeting in south Belfast designed to give people there a voice and a chance to raise issues with and ask qustions of the police.

They reportedly shouted profanities, "jostled" councillors and decried nationalist politicians for administering a "British police force" administering "imperial rule in Ireland".

Meanwhile, two nights previously, 82-year-old pensioner Jack Cassidy was attacked and robbed in his house just off the Andersonstown Road in west Belfast. A gang of four youths forced their way in to his house on Saint Agnes Drive while he was watching the Northern Ireland football team's victory over Denmark. They "manhandled" the pensioner and urinated in his bed and in every room in his house, before making off with money he had withdrawn the previous day to pay the heating bill and money he'd saved for Christmas presents.

Unsurprisingly the pensioner has said he hopes police will step up the number of patrols in the area. I would imagine the priest also robbed in west Belfast at the weekend, and the two robbed in Cookstown last night, might agree.

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It was funny to watch republicans reach near orgasm over the withdrawal of the army from Crossmaglen following a job well done. Yesterday the last soldiers left the village Possibly the most amusing thing was the placard carried by some of the terrorist supporting rabble. "Intimidation, torture, murder" in capital letters adorned the middle. Ironically, that's exactly why the army were here for so long - to put an end to the IRA's campaign of, you guessed it, intimidation, torture and murder.

Now seems an appropriate time to thank all the soldiers who served here over the decades of the troubles, doing a difficult and often thankless job in even more difficult circumstances. I'm not sure I can imagine what it must be like leaving your family and friends with only the knowledge that you're doing it to protect innocent life to keep you going so thank you.

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Government research on the mainland is indicating that providing public services in foreign languages for non-English speakers is not only costing upwards of £100m a year (including £55m in the NHS), but isolating communities from each other. Meanwhile, Sinn Fein and their new MOPE poster-girl "Maire Nic An Bhaird" are continuing their efforts to create language barriers where none presently exist.

Remember, these millions are being spent on translating for people who can't speak English; by pushing for the new Irish Language Act to be rights-based one, republicans are demanding that the government spend proportionally similar sums on translations for people who can!

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The bullshit 50-50 recruitment discrimination legislation is making it more difficult for migrant workers to get jobs in the PSNI, which can't possibly help the service when it's trying to deal with members of the ever-growing ethnic minority group in Northern Ireland.

It's fairly common knowledge that the legislation was ridiculous enough to start with by virtue of defining only 2 groups of people, Catholic and 'other,' for the purposes of police recruitment. Now Miss Fitz at Slugger O'Toole has pointed out the relevant part of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 which shows that Polish applicants, despite being overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, are lumped in with the already oversubscribed "non-Roman Catholic applicants" group, which makes it more difficult for them to gain employment in the force. Admittance to the Catholic group for 50-50 recruitment is reserved for those defined by monitoring regulations as "belonging to the Roman Catholic community in Northern Ireland". Why they didn't just go ahead and say nationalist, I don't know. It's probably more accurate and a damn sight more honest.

Last year nearly 1000 Poles applied for jobs in the PSNI (12% of all applicants). It certainly would be helpful to have a few officers who understood Northern Ireland's newest residents and one of the largest minority communities here, not to mention ones that are more removed from the sectarian crap that goes on here. At the very least they should be exempted altogether from the 'positive' [sic] discrimination imposed on the police.

The 50-50 recruitment policies may have been a necessary evil at the time, but with Catholic officers already numbering 20% after such a short space of time there will soon be no justification for it and this situation just highlights the blatant hypocrisy. As of 23rd March 2006 there were a total of 21 ethnic minority officers, only 2 of whom were Seargents. Apparently it's not just Protestants getting the raw deal here.

Here's what needs to happen, as I see it. In the next couple of 12 months Sinn Fein will slowly begin to back the police. At this stage the numbers of Catholic applicants will most likely increase significantly. Shortly afterwards (6-12 months) there must be an announcement that after another 12 months, the discriminatory recruitment procedures currently in place will be ended. By that time the number of Catholics in the PSNI should have edged to somewhere between 25 and 30% and can therefore even out naturally over time without discriminating against and alienating the other 55% of the population.