President's Column - The ability to respond quickly is imperative
“We should use the best ideas from wherever they are developed, but it’s extremely important to understand the context.”
The ability to respond quickly is imperative
Last month, I was fortunate enough to spend some time in the United Kingdom and Europe.
The primary purpose of my visit was to attend the bi-annual conference of the International Council of Police Representative Association (ICPRA), which now represents over one and a half million police worldwide and to which I was re-elected as Chairman.
In an increasingly international policing environment where we have police working on international deployments and investigations, and where policing ideas and strategies are being swapped and transplanted, it’s important police officers have a voice and input. ICPRA is that voice.
The real benefits of the international contacts built from being involved in such a group were obvious when I found myself with local police at the time of the Cumbria shootings that claimed 13 lives.
Given the debate taking place here over future armed response, training and availability, and the interest in the UK model, it was good to see it in action.
It was fortunate that they had a nuclear power plant nearby guarded by armed nuclear police, who were able to respond while the local force waited a very long time for the Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs) to arrive from the other side of the county.
With such plants thin on the ground here, it was a good example of why we should be very careful about importing overseas policing initiatives without fully understanding the different context in which they were developed.
For example, most UK police are never trained to use firearms and it transpires in the Cumbria killings that three unarmed constables were unable to continue following the gunman, who then went on to kill nine more people.
We should use the best ideas from wherever they are developed but it’s extremely important to understand the context.
That’s where being able to instantly get access to the real story through the local Association, and not relying on the media, is essential. Cumbria showed that.
It was also through ICPRA contacts that Norway’s recent arming debate came to my attention.
Norway has an unarmed national police, the same population and the same ‘tyranny of distance’’ problems we have.
Their experience is highly relevant. Police have since visited Norway as well and we look forward to some of their policies being considered here.
And when our contacts tell us Irish police are facing 17% pay cuts, we also realise New Zealand’s not as badly hit by the recession as some of our international colleagues!
