Why Sir Hugh has run out of excuses

Lindy McDowell

Lindy McDowell, Belfast Telegraph

Thursday, April 17, 2008

The Chief Constable of the PSNI was on the run at the weekend. Competing in the London Marathon. We read in the Monday morning papers that he came in at 4hrs, 5mins and 55 secs, beaten by his new girlfriend who zoomed in at an impressive 3hrs, 49mins, 47 secs.

The story did not make page one.

But then how could it? All space there is needed these days for the now familiar marathon of misery that is the weekend toll of horror attacks, violence and crime.

Now, no one can begrudge Sir Hugh his time off. What he does in his spare time is his own business. It does not impinge on the job he does.

But let's be honest. Policing, like politics, is also a lot about public perception. And the image of our top cop pounding the beat in London during what turns out to be yet another weekend of violence back here does tend to provoke comments along the lines of: "Actually what we'd prefer to see, Sir Hugh, is the yobs on the run for a change."

The lowlights of the weekend past included the rape of a young female visitor to the city, a man left fighting for his life after a vicious assault on the Falls Road, another man also fighting for his life after he too was assaulted in Bradbury Place in the south of the city, a man with part of his ear bitten off, two men killed when the stolen car they were driving crashed, a police officer needing stitches after being hit in the face by a bottle ...

For the officers at street level, theirs is a thankless and difficult task and like other members of the emergency services they deserve our total support and admiration for what they do.

But rightly or wrongly there is a perception throughout Northern Ireland at the moment that policing is being consistently pipped at the post by the scumbag armies of the street. And that in considerable swathes of this place, it is those lowlife who are running free and running the show.

What people want to see quite simply are police officers, many more police officers, out on patrol. They want the streets reclaimed and the thugs brought to book.

Resources? We are continually told it is a question of 'resources'. But then another report this week reveals where some of the 'resources' are being channelled — £5m to be precise. That's the amount that has been spent on a PSNI internal investigations unit in its first 15 months. Add that to the £9m per annum it takes to run the Police Ombudsman's Office ...

As a former chairman of the Police Federation bleakly notes, some police officers currently believe that more resources are going into investigating complaints than investigating crime.

In marathon speak you can appreciate why so many of those cops now feel that they've hit the wall — that point in the race where suddenly you just seem to be going nowhere.

And of course it is not just about resources or even about use of resources.

Policing here remains a complex business with political influences a constant hurdle and the shadow of the past dogging every step.

There is, too, the question of what happens when offenders are actually brought before the courts — the issue of the type and length of sentences imposed.

But it would also be fair to say that many, many people feel that as a matter of urgency more could be done, and more should be done, to safeguard our streets.

That it's not just in the marathon the Chief Constable needs to go the extra mile.