Policing In Northern Ireland Research Articles

Exporting the UK Police 'Brand': The RUC-PSNI and the International Policing Agenda

The British (UK) police have developed since the 19th century from a meshing of two broad systems of policing: civil/English and colonial/Irish. The presence of a civil, unarmed police on the mainland and an armed police in Northern Ireland [aside from the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP)] has benefitted the UK, in terms of international policing assistance, allowing the different facets of the UK policing brand to be transported overseas. The UN-led mission to Kosovo necessitated executive authority policing; the UK government deployed officers from the 10 RUC and MDP; the RUC though being the only home office police force with long-standing operational experience in the use of firearms, in divided community and hostile environment policing, in managing regular high-end public order, providing counter-terrorist policing and a lengthy history in civil–military relations as a result of the conflict in Northern Ireland. This expertise was of particular benefit to the peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions to Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan from the 1990s through until the present day.

The Devolution of Policing in Northern Ireland: Politics and Reform

This article looks at the devolution of policing in Northern Ireland. It begins with an outline of the historical context of policing in Northern Ireland and looks at the concept of legitimacy. I examine the motives and rhetoric of those involved in the devolution of policing in Northern Ireland. I also outline the reforms to policing as well as the difficulties faced on the ground. Where appropriate I compare developments in Northern Ireland with other post-conflict situations. This article is written from the perspective of commending those politicians, police officers and others who have taken risks for peace and whose leadership has led to the devolution of policing in Northern Ireland, which represents a completion of the devolution of powers to Northern Ireland as promised in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. I argue that honesty about the past is key to the process of ‘conflict resolution’ — for the police, politicians and paramilitaries.

Governance, accountability and neighbourhood policing in Northern Ireland: analysing the role of public meetings

In Northern Ireland’s move from conflict to peace, policing has remained close to the top of the political agenda. As part of the peace process, the Independent Commission on Policing (ICP) reported in 1999, and since its publication policing structures in Northern Ireland have undergone considerable reform. One of the threads of the ICP was to introduce a more nodal or networked approach to the delivery of policing that included the establishment of partnership policing structures. Against this backdrop, this article evaluates the use of the recently established Partners and Communities Together (PACT) public meetings in their role as a tool in re-shaping the parameters police accountability in Northern Ireland. The model is explicitly promoted as fostering a more nodal approach to local police decision making by engaging with a more diverse range of groups and harnessing the knowledge of local agencies to solve crime and disorder problems. Therefore, enhancing the accountability and legitimacy of the PSNI at the local level. In these contexts, the article utilises data taken from fieldwork undertaken at these public meetings and critically considers their role as forums where communities bring low level disorder issues that are affecting their neighbourhood to the attention of the PSNI, and whether they help solve these issues in partnership. The article therefore offers an examination of the role of public meetings and the PACT model itself.

Revising Irish history: The Northern Ireland conflict and the war of ideas

Power-sharing government resumed in Northern Ireland on 8 May 2007 after a historic agreement was reached between the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein. Unionist Ian Paisley became First Minister and Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness, former Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), became Deputy First Minister. The Provisional Republican movement has signed up to the decommissioning of weapons and policing in Northern Ireland; and hard-line Unionism has signed up to power-sharing and cross-border bodies. For the vast majority in Northern Ireland the conflict is over after almost a century of political turmoil and more than a generation of violent conflict. It is fitting, therefore, to examine the ‘war of ideas’ in the revisionist controversy that dominated Irish historiography throughout the period of this conflict. The purpose of this article is to offer an overview of this controversy. The writing on the Easter Rising of 1916 serves to illuminate the discussion and will aid in answering the issue of what the revisionist controversy is all about. In this article revisionism is defined as a re-examination of the ideological roots of current orthodoxy in response to the contemporary conflict in Northern Ireland. The article looks at how a variety of historians have reacted to this violent crisis, and how they concluded that revisionism was necessary: that is, how the deconstruction and re-evaluation of ideology and a new interpretation of history are crucial in understanding such crises of violence (and perhaps thereby defusing the tension). The article examines the nature and extent of this revisionist intellectual response. It recognizes that even though intellectuals are influenced by political conflicts, they do not necessarily follow political agendas.

Ten Years After Patten: Young People and Policing in Northern Ireland

Through a comprehensive review of existing literature, this article documents young people’s experiences of policing during the period of political transition and extensive reform of the structures of policing in Northern Ireland since the publication of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland (The Patten Report) in 1999. The article explores the nature and context of these relationships and provides a commentary of how young people’s experiences and perceptions of policing have been shaped by their social, economic, and community backgrounds. Furthermore, a number of ideas and activities that have been developed with the aim of improving the attitudes of young people toward the police, the attitudes of police officers toward young people, and the interactions between the two are also discussed.

'Securing' the Past: Policing and the Contest over Truth in Northern Ireland

The question of whether Northern Ireland should have a formal truth recovery process has been amplified by the recent Report of the Consultative Group on the Past. Compared to the volume at which the truth recovery debate has been played out, relatively little is known about policing attitudes to this form of dealing with the past. This paper analyses the ways in which the history and context of policing in Northern Ireland have shaped attitudes towards truth recovery. It will be argued that differing opinions on the need for truth recovery are part of a debate over ownership of the past' between the ardent supporters of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the new post-Patten managers and modernizers.

Community policing in Northern Ireland: a resistance narrative

Policing in stable democratic societies is predominantly concerned with the implementation and practice of the globally accepted philosophy of community policing. However, the subtle complexities of Northern Ireland's transitional landscape present acute problems for the community policing concept, both as a vehicle for police reform and as a tool for increasing the co-production of security through improved community interaction with the police. This article will examine the current position of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and their Policing with the Community policy. Providing an overview of contextual and contemporary developments, it will assess the efficacy with which the PSNI have realised community policing, as espoused in Patten Recommendation 44. It concludes by determining the role and extent of community engagement with policing in Northern Ireland and the resistances and contestations to the implementation of the community policing in a post-conflict society.

Post-conflict Transformation: The Process of Institutional Legitimation of the Police in Northern Ireland

This article explores the complex nature and role of the reform of state institutions in facilitating and underpinning peace building and post-conflict transformation. Using the case study of police reform in Northern Ireland post the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, it considers the potential for institutional reform to legitimate state structures historically rejected as partisan or corrupt. The historical absence of legitimacy of policing in Northern Ireland created a context where police reform became a central plank—both real and symbolic—in the constitutional redesign of the state of Northern Ireland itself. The responses of the two dominant communities of Northern Ireland to the role of the police embodied the core constitutional questions which had historically divided the parties in the conflict. This article analyses the Patten Commission model of policing reform and its implementation process, considering, in particular, the implementation of three core strands of reform—representation, human rights and accountability—and the contribution each has made towards the institutional legitimation of the police in Northern Ireland and the post-conflict transformation process more generally.

A Culture of Human Rights: Transforming Policing in Northern Ireland

The reform of policing in Northern Ireland has been underpinned by a commitment to the mainstreaming of human rights and compliance with international human rights standards that has been welcomed by human rights advocates. This article considers three ways in which human rights ideas are challenging the conduct and traditions of policing in Northern Ireland in order to promote a new police force based on a human rights culture: first, through seeking to transform the enduring symbols of the former Royal Ulster Constabulary and their reproduction in policing practices and the cultural environment; secondly, through their role in providing new ‘cultural capacities’ based on human rights ideas of respect, equality, toleration, dignity, fairness, transparency, and democratic accountability from which police officers can draw in carrying out their functions; and thirdly in confronting and seeking to diffuse the professional and cultural boundaries between police, human rights advocates and lay people.

Post-conflict Police Reform: Is Northern Ireland a Model?

The police in Northern Ireland have undergone extensive—many would say fundamental—reform as recommended by the Patten Commission (Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland (1999) following the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. This essay examines the relevance of the reform experience in Northern Ireland to other countries emerging from conflict where policing is critical to peace and stability. First, it specifies four challenges that Northern Ireland faced that are common to other post-conflict societies. It then reviews the elements in Northern Ireland's reform and the evidence for their achievement. Finally, it suggests four factors that made reform possible in Northern Ireland, factors that may not occur in similar situations elsewhere. It argues in conclusion that Northern Ireland shows that meaningful police reform can occur despite years of bitter conflict, but that certain conditions may be necessary for it.

The discourse of resistance: Social change and policing in Northern Ireland

Modern social theory highlights the role of language in social change/reproduction, yet rarely draws on actual linguistic resources or theory. Equally, sociolinguistics situates linguistic practice within the social domain, but only weakly makes links to social theory. Using a linguistic analysis of policing discourses in Northern Ireland, this article considers how such analyses can both inform and be informed by broader social theories. Policing is a contentious issue for nationalists, and despite recent reforms, many continue to regard the (new) police force with suspicion. Data from nationalist women in Belfast are used to explore the thematic frameworks and interactional/pragmatic strategies (pragmatic blocking) through which the speakers jointly produce a “discourse of resistance,” effectively blocking acceptance of the new service. The analysis is discussed in relation to theories of social change (with particular reference to Bourdieu's habitus). Considered are implications for sociolinguistics, social theory, and policing policy in Northern Ireland.This article derives from an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded study (Award No. RES 00-22-0257).

Restoring Justice Through Community Policing

Principles of restorative justice guide new approaches to criminal justice policy and practice worldwide; however, scant attention is paid to policing within this paradigm. This article describes the theoretical, practice, and value dimensions of restorative justice and examines these in relation to community policing ideology and practice. It presents a policy analysis of the bold Northern Ireland police reform experience and explores the central dilemmas and opportunities inherent in transforming police within communities in conflict. In spite of substantial implementation challenges, community policing may restore justice because of the demand for a sustained peace, dynamism generated when police reform is part of larger social reform, and determination elicited from the poignant recognition of prior injustice. Through police reform, there is potential for greater local democratic control and accountability of the state social control mechanism.

The Gaelic Athletic Association, Rule 21, and Police Reform in Northern Ireland

Society in Northern Ireland has undergone substantial change in recent years, the most controversial aspect of this being the reform of policing following the report of the Independent Commission for Policing in Northern Ireland in 1999. Section 15.2 of the report’s recommendations called on the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), Ireland’s largest sporting body, to repeal Rule 21. This rule prevented security force personnel in Northern Ireland from joining the GAA. Utilizing Mawby’s models on policing, this article examines a range of views expressed by GAA members concerning the rule’s eventual removal. Those advocating the retention of Rule 21 cited decades of alleged maltreatment at the hands of state security forces. In contrast, a growing body of opinion within the wider nationalist community favored a more enlightened approach on the issue. The resulting discourse reflected the symbolic importance of Rule 21 in the construction of Irish Nationalism as a whole.

‘It's their word against mine’: young people's attitudes to the police complaints procedure in Northern Ireland

One of the central aims of the police reform process in Northern Ireland has been to increase the legitimacy of the policing structures and police officers amongst those who are served and policed by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). To meet this aim, structures have been created to ensure that the PSNI is accountable to all sections of the community for its strategy and performance, and in monitoring the attitudes and behaviour of its officers. To that end, the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI), the Northern Ireland Policing Board and 26 District Policing Partnerships have been created. This paper aims to break ground by looking in some detail at young people's attitudes to and experiences of the workings of one of those new bodies, the Police Ombudsman, and to explore issues related to young people's willingness to engage with the PONI.

Community policing and the reform of the Royal Ulster Constabulary

In deeply divided societies such as Northern Ireland the question of police reform cannot be divorced from broader political issues. This article looks at the connections between police reform and the political process, in the particular context of the recommendations of the Patten Report, which put forward a framework for a fundamental reform of policing in Northern Ireland. The problems encountered during the subsequent reform process – both political and institutional – are discussed. It is argued that the model of a decentralized and democratically accountable police service, based on the core principle of community policing, although not fully realized, offers a model for policing in societies which are becoming increasingly multi‐ethnic.

Policing and social conflict in Northern Ireland

In this introduction, we provide a historical account of the development of policing in Northern Ireland. In Section One, we discuss the historical imperatives that shaped the nature of policing in pre‐independence Ireland. In Section Two, we consider the links between police and state in Northern Ireland, and explore the dynamics of policing during the conflict. As police reform emerged as a central plank of the peace process, we examine the potential of the Patten Report to resolve the difficulties surrounding policing and police legitimacy. We conclude by highlighting the positive lessons to emerge from the ongoing debate over police reform in Northern Ireland.

Young people and the royal Ulster constabulary: A survey of inter‐communal attitudes

This paper forms part of a broader ESRC‐funded study into the relationship between young people, victimisation and policing in Northern Ireland. The findings reported here suggest that attitudes towards the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) are highly schismatic. The data showed no major differences between the attitudes of nationalists and republicans, suggesting a higher level of intra‐communal antagonism to the RUC that has previously been assumed. Additionally, people's engagement with the police appears to be based as much on ideological and normative factors, as it is on experiential factors. Overall, these findings suggest that police reforms limited to the enhancement of RUC professionalism may not be sufficient to improve relations between the RUC and the broad Catholic/nationalist community.

The language of policing and the struggle for legitimacy in Northern Ireland

British government strategies of conflict management in Northern Ireland placed a heavy emphasis on police professionalism, which was itself connected to a broader set of initiatives to frame public understandings of the conflict in particular ways. In this paper we argue that as part of this process, a specific language of policing has been deployed in Northern Ireland in an effort to enhance the legitimacy of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). The two central elements of this are ‘consent’ and ‘service’. Using interview and historical data, we outline the various ways in which these concepts are utilised to support claims that the force operates with widespread community support, and has at its core a commitment to service provision. We suggest that these tenets are part of a broader discursive strategy to complement material practices of policing in Northern Ireland. While they articulate a highly positive image of the RUC, they provide limited scope for understanding and responding to criticism of current policing structures and arrangements.

Engendering resistance: Women and policing in Northern Ireland

This paper examines women's experiences of interrogation in Northern Ireland. In particular, it considers how women's responses to police interrogation can be understood in terms of resistance, and how women's political consciousness has been raised and refined in relation to this contact. Interviews with a wide range of political activists reveal the range of strategies used to disrupt police interrogation. The security forces’ reliance on an explicitly gendered and sexualised mode of interrogation ensures that gender is a focal point in struggles over political identity and bodily integrity. The gendered nature of interrogation, and women's responses to it, has been one of the forces that has nurtured and defined women's political consciousness in relation to gender, sexuality and other issues.

Undermining the Sanitized Account. Violence and Emotionality in the Field in Northern Ireland

The experience of researching violence is underpinned by experiences of emotionality. Yet such emotionality is considered at best peripheral to the substance of our research or even our ‘confessional tales’. This paper is interested in the ways emotionality has been so easily ignored in most criminological work and the ways it was impossible to ignore during a study of women, policing and resistance in Northern Ireland. Examining the impact of emotionality on the experience of researching violence offers a way to challenge traditional distinctions between reason and emotion and suggests that there are serious theoretical and epistemological consequences in ignoring the many roles of emotion in our research. In this paper I identify the ways emotionality is central to understanding the experience of researching violence. In particular I am interested in revealing the ways emotionality, as an important component of subjectivity, informed my investigation of women, resistance and policing in Northern Ireland. My emotionality came from a number of sources: myself, the women I interviewed and my relations with them, and the political situation in Northern Ireland. This required me to understand the ways that emotion has been systematically excluded in most academic work on Northern Ireland and what this suggests about taking subjectivity into account and challenging traditional distinctions between reason and emotion.