April

POLICING

What We Need, What We Want:

What is Possible

POLICING DEBATE, CONWAY MILL, 3^RD APRIL 2001

SPEECH BY BILLY MITCHELL

Good Evening,

I would like to thank the sponsors of the �Voice of the Lark� for inviting me to express my views on the issues of policing, and I apologise for not being able to attend in person.

I wish to stress at the outset that I am speaking for myself, as an individual, and not as a member of the Progressive Unionist Party.� My views on policing, which I have aired several times in my North Belfast News column, would be rejected every bit as much by many unionists as they will be here tonight by most nationalists.

While I acknowledge that there are emotional reasons why unionists wish to retain the name, emblems and personnel of the RUC and why nationalists/republicans wish to see them scrapped, I do not believe that by changing the name, uniform, and emblems of the police or by increasing the quota of Catholics will make significant changes either in terms of a new effective police service or in terms of either gains or losses in the constitutional struggle.

A new and effective police service will only be achieved through a new and effective philosophy on policing that transcends political and religious divisions and, more importantly, that rejects the traditional model of �justice� that is rooted and grounded in retribution. Such a philosophy must be linked to a policing strategy that sets clearly identifiable and achievable outcomes that can be measured and validated both by the police and the community. It will not be achieved as a result of changes in the name, the emblems, the uniform or the personnel � nor will it be achieved simply by retaining the name, the emblems, the uniform or the personnel.

An effective philosophy on policing must include an effective philosophy on justice. Police reforms, no matter how radical they are, will not necessarily mean that the people of Northern Ireland will receive justice. So long as justice is regarded as �just desserts� rather that �just relationships� no amount of tinkering with the police service will serve the interests of justice. The recommendations of the Criminal Justice Review Board remain rooted and grounded in a philosophy of retributive justice; thus ensuring that whatever changes are made to policing, the focus of the police and the criminal justice system will remain locked into a process that is both adversarial and retributive rather than meditative and restorative.

Call it what you will. Recruit to it whom you will. Dress them up in the uniform of your choice. At the end of the day the Police Service of Northern Ireland � even with Alex Atwood as Chief Constable - will be nothing more and nothing less than Continuity RUC.

The new service will be as British as the Metropolitan Police Service or any other police service in England, Scotland or Wales. There are no ideological reasons why nationalists or republicans should support such a police service, and there are no ideological reasons why unionists should oppose such a police service. Yet that appears to be what is happening in the current controversy over policing.

What will change? Will young ideological nationalists be any more likely to want to enforce British law in this part of Ireland simply because the name, emblems and personnel have changed? Will they be any more willing to arrest and detain fellow nationalists for �offences against the (British) state� simply because of such changes? On the other hand, will unionist police officers be any less likely to enforce British law under the new service than they did under the old? Will they be less likely under the new service to arrest and detain nationalists for �offences against the state� than they were before? While society remains divided, policing a divided society will remain contentious.

If I am standing in a picket line protesting against unjust working conditions and poor wages, will Big Seamus be any gentler than Big Sammy when it comes to clearing the line and protecting the scabs? If I engage in civil disobedience will �Cahill the Cop� be any more sympathetic than �Charlie the Cop�?

What we need to do is to change the nature of how we do politics, of how we develop our communities and of how we relate to each other as human beings.� Maybe then we could arrive at a situation where the debate is about �securing justice� rather than about �policing the state� and �enforcing laws;� and where we would be more concerned about preventing �offences against each other� than about �offences against the state�.

Changing names may change nothing, but changing attitudes most certainly will.

Thank You

The Voice of the Lark is a new monthly public forum for open debate and discussion.
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