Hypothetical Policing Question
Just a short one to start off with today.
In a nutshell, Republicans refuse to acknowledge the PSNI because they are a state controlled organisation, have no jurisdiction, etc etc. And with this, we have witnessed the rise of the Republican-friendly alternative, the Community Restorative Justice Scheme, known as CRJ to it’s friends.
What would happen if:
- A United Ireland suddenly occurred - would the Community Restorative Justice schemes be immediately wound up and the Gardai recognised as the universal policing body?
- What if the secondment of Gardai personnel in Northern Ireland was extended in a special scheme to give Republicans an acceptable point of contact for reporting crime, then subsequent investigations handled jointly by the Gardai/PSNI? Surely that would represent a checks and balances system that gave Republicans a point of contact they ‘recognise’, complete with the resources available to the PSNI?
Or
I’m just wondering folks, because this whole shebang confuses the hell out of me. And although I’ll admit to a certain naivety concerning the finer details of political history and the convoluted stances that our parties and people seem to take, I’m a big believer in stripping things back to their most basic.
Rather than critique my suggestions, let’s try something a little more constructive. If you don’t think my solution will work, say why not and then give me your solution.
Mr Levee: Republicans refuse to acknowledge the PSNI yet nearly nintey years on they don’t recognise the Gardai. Human rights are in jeopardy under the Government?s restorative justice since the protocol does not provide for an independent legal complaints system, I am in favour of restorative justice but not paramilitary justice and I want to see human rights safeguards for restorative justice programmes. We should by no means allow CRJ schemes to set up their own complaints system, with minimal regulation. That is a formula for human rights abuse, it makes a mockery of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for Non-Custodial Measures and it will allow restorative justice groups to get away with what they like.
The PSNI can be investigated by the Police Ombudsman, but if a young person finds their rights being abused by a member of a restorative justice group, they are meant to go higher up in the group to bring a complaint. That is out of the frying pan and into the fire. The only safeguard that the government has laid down is that the system would be inspected by the Criminal Justice Inspectorate, however that is meaningless - since he is prohibited by law from examining individual complaints.
There is a clear warning that under the Government?s plans, human rights are in danger. We will need proper screening of people working on restorative justice programmes. What if, for example, a member of a restorative justice group was engaged in sex abuse? How do restorative justice groups handle such cases? There were serious allegations reported in the Sunday World in 2000 that a person involved in community restorative justice was involved in sex abuse, yet these allegations never made it to the police.