Who is popular today?

A cross-Border agreement should be reached to allow police services in the North and the Republic to pursue suspects across the Border, according to a report by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
It was one of 50 recommendations detailed in a 170-page report produced following a review of policing in south Armagh, which was published on Tuesday.
The report proposed a bilateral policing agreement should be explored between both departments of justice “with the aim of facilitating joint rather than parallel policing operations” between the PSNI and An Garda Síochána.
“As a minimum this should enable cross-border hot pursuit between policing jurisdictions in the interests of community safety and policing effectiveness,” the report stated.
Its recommendation is that this should be facilitated “in defined circumstances”, with a timescale given for the change of between three and five years.
Consultation with senior Garda officers responsible for Border policing “indicates support for developments of this nature,” it said.
The report noted that there was currently “no co-ordinated pursuit capability between jurisdictions” and increased policing collaboration would also provide health and safety benefits for officers working in Border areas.
“It does not seem logical or reasonable that police colleagues across the Border cannot provide reassurance and mutual support to each other where there is risk to life or serious injury.”
It also makes a number of other proposals regarding cross-Border policing, including the development of a “command and control and pursuit prevention protocol” with a focus on the management of planned pursuits.
There should also be increased cross-Border communication and collaboration, as well as the introduction of a cross-Border accountability mechanism at local level between both forces, and effective public communication of joint activity “to reassure the local community and increase confidence in policing”.
Each of the recommendations is given a timescale ranging from urgent (up to three months) to long term (three to five years).
Review
The review into policing in south Armagh was launched in January 2020 following the controversy surrounding a social media post on Christmas Day 2019 in which the North’s chief constable, Simon Byrne, was pictured outside Crossmaglen police station with police officers carrying PSNI-issued assault rifles.
At the time, Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy said the post was “offensive to the local community and utterly unacceptable” and had “only served to further undermine the public confidence in the PSNI within south Armagh” while SDLP councillor Pete Byrne said families were “hurt and offended to see a Twitter post from the PSNI chief constable featuring officers with heavy weaponry on show”.
The report and the findings were presented to local community and elected representatives in south Armagh on Tuesday morning.
The police said the review sought to address the “style, tone and accessibility of local policing and whether it was appropriately aligned to community expectations and needs”.
Its findings and recommendations focus on six core areas including confidence and legitimacy, organisational culture, image and identity, engagement, leadership, and accountability and integrity.
Mr Byrne acknowledged that some of the findings made for “challenging reading” but said he hoped the review demonstrated “that we acknowledge and care that we have not been meeting the standards local people expect of us, we have listened and that we are ready to act on the opportunity for change”.
He said the review marked the beginning rather than the end of the police’s engagement with the local community. “Working together, I am confident we can build on the positive engagement undertaken through this review to realise our shared ambition for a visible, accessible, responsive and community-focused local police service.”
Trust issues
The report noted that issues of “trust, confidence and the prevailing influence of the past on relationships between police and the local community” were central to the review, and the delivery of style and tone of policing in the area emphasised the past rather than the future.
It found changes were necessary to “align the south Armagh policing model to standard organisational practice and to build confidence and support for policing in the interests of community safety”.
Among the report’s 50 recommendations were the stipulation that all local and neighbourhood policing duties in south Armagh should be performed using PSNI-liveried vehicles, with an “immediate initial transition of 50 per cent of the vehicle fleet to liveried armoured vehicles”.
Non-armoured vehicle capability “should be introduced gradually within a five-year period in the interests of normalised policing, improved attendance times, increased road safety and pursuit capability”.
G36 assault rifle weapons “should no longer be routinely carried”, it said.
Crossmaglen police station was “no longer considered fit for purpose in delivering accessible and responsive policing” and options for closure “should be explored as a matter of priority with a view to facilitating redevelopment and regeneration”.
While a new, purpose-built station is the preferred option, if this is not economically feasible Newtownhamilton police station should be rebranded as south Armagh police station, the review suggested.
It also recommended exploring relocating police memorials to “an agreed space in the station away from public locations and main thoroughfares”.