Mr. Drew Harris:

I have experience working with the policing board in Belfast and I was the chief officer in the PSNI from 2006 to 2018. I attended some 97 public meetings with the policing board so I am well versed in and well used to both a policing board and an ombudsman and how they work and how sensitive they are to public confidence. I have learnt that there is always a degree of tension between the executive of a policing organisation and its oversight body, and that is a good thing. Steel sharpens steel. We need to have vigorous and rigorous debate about our policing functions, making sure, therefore, that we are doing that which promotes public confidence and that which is seen to be legitimate in the eyes of the public. All of that is what we seek to achieve by our engagement with the authority. The authority, as its chair said, is on the other side of that continuum and conversation with us.

I have mixed opinions on the prosecution of offences in the District Court. I understand entirely the principle that has been set out. It is probably more achievable in our bigger towns and cities. At the same time there is something which maintains our skills, including our investigative skills and the quality of our local investigative work. When people know they have to go along and either they or their immediate supervisor will present the cases they prepare, there is a real connection between the quality of the work and they then see the immediate impact of that in a court appearance. That is also a good grounding for moving on into more serious crime investigation and being very familiar with court processes. There is, therefore, a downside and a skills fade when a policing organisation no longer takes on those prosecutions. I understand the point the commission made and I know that work is being done but, at the same time, a huge resource would be required to conduct that function right across Ireland.