Police chief maps way ahead for policing in rural areas without stations

Editorial Department Meadhbh Monahan - 1503 • Published 13 Aug 2009 09:00 0 Comments

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Money saved by selling four of Fermanagh's police stations could be spent on a Police administration post in West Fermanagh.

Chief Superintendent Michael Skuce would not disclose exactly where the PSNI are planning to situate the administration building but revealed that "at the moment we are engaging with people who have properties within the Fermanagh West area."

Local taxpayers have been spending £400,000 for each of the last four years on the upkeep of the four stations in Belleek, Belcoo, Newtownbutkler and Kesh. The Kesh station has been operating on limited opening hours but the other three have been closed since 2005.

Following a decision by the Northern Ireland Policing Board last Thursday, these stations along with 22 others across Northern Ireland will close.

In response to concerns of local Unionists such as DUP MLA, Arlene Foster who said: "When the prospect of selling these stations off was first mooted, I was inundated with calls from constituents across Fermanagh voicing genuine concerns and fears about the level of policing that would be left in the county. Sadly the PSNI chose to ignore those fears," Chief Superintendent Michael Skuce, District Commander of F District said he wanted to "reassure the community that there is no withdrawal of police services within the Fermanagh area. Our services will remain as they are, I will keep resources where I have them. In some cases I have expanded resources like in the Lisnaskea area where we had to increase policing in response to the dissident republican threat."

Chief Superintendent Skuce said that the money saved from selling the stations will be put into ensuring there is a greater police presence "on the ground" in Fermanagh. "I'm determined to free up my officers and get them out of the office and away from paper work so they can concentrate on dealing with the public on the ground."

He revealed that the District Management Team are now considering spending the money on "a number of initiatives" including a larger police presence in West Fermanagh. "We have a mobile police unit which is very successful and we are planning to get another mobile unit to operate in the eastern side of the district. We have a dissident republican threat so obviously we will have to consider the security of these mobile units."

Referring to policing the West, Chief Superintendent Skuce said: "We are exploring the possibility of having a police administration post in the Fermanagh West area. At the moment we are engaging with people who have properties within the Fermanagh West area. This has come about as a result of the consultation we have had with the community in terms of them wanting to have a police presence.

"My plan is to have officers based or reporting to a location in the Fermanagh West area ,which they can go to, to do paper work or access computers so they can stay in the area rather than having to get in the car and lose time by driving through traffic back to Enniskillen.

"I want to keep officers in the area. We have explored a number of areas and what is pleasing is that the community are very willing and welcome of the proposals." He added: "as soon as we have a definite location I will communicate that to the public."

Chairman of Fermanagh District Policing Partnership (DPP), SDLP Councillor John O'Kane said that the PSNI have not yet informed the DPP of their plans for the future of policing in Fermanagh. He said that the PSNI will soon be meeting with Community groups and Community Police Liaison Teams (CPLCs) who will give their opinion on the creation of an administration post in West Fermanagh.

"The people want a visible police presence and the future needs to be looked at in a creative way," Mr. O'Kane said.

"We are all aware of the dissident threat which is a constricting factor but we don't want to solve todays problems with old solutions."

His message to the PSNI was that Fermanagh DPP "will be looking for innovative thinking." He said: "I know they are working at formulating alternative ways of policing Fermanagh. I would expect them to come to us (the DPP) at the earliest opportunity to show us their proposals and we would do them the courtesy of giving them time to implement them."

Chief Superintendent Skuce claimed: "I want to reassure the DPP and the public at large that I will maximise as many officers as possible to front line policing."

He said that the Policing Board want to know at the September meeting how the PSNI intend to allocate the £1.8 million in revenue spending and the £5.5 million in capital from the sales of the stations across the Province.

He also revealed that he sees the future of policing in Neighbourhood Policing Teams. It is expected that these Neighbourhood Policing Teams will be announced soon, perhaps at the next DPP meeting in September.

"We already launched Fermanagh North Neighbourhood Policing Team, with Scott Follis and his team," Chief Superintendent Skuce said. "We are currently establishing our Lisnaskea Team which is headed by Sergeant Dickson and will announce them in the next month or so. What we want are local officers who know the people in the area, the community groups, councillors and politicians and who will work with them to resolve issues."

Chief Superintendent Skuce admitted that local officers feel "concerned" about becoming more well known as part of a Neighbourhood Policing Team in light of the dissident threat in Fermanagh.

"The officers are concerned but when an officer is completing his or her duty, for example if the offender is taken before courts, the officer has to give evidence to the Magistrate in front of the accused."

He said that the lack of anonymity is a concern because "dissidents will maximise every opportunity in terms of trying to obtain information about officers but at same time we do have the full support of the community."

He said he is "reassured" that the people in Fermanagh "want police on the streets." He claimed: "They don't want anyone else and I am determined to make sure that happens."

Chief Superintendent Skuce concluded by claiming that he has "far too much space for the number of officers."

He said that "Kesh, Belleek, Belcoo and Newtownbutler were built for the Troubles; a time that has now passed. They housed a significant number of military and police personnel. They were for a different era and a different time."

The future estate for the Fermanagh area now incorporates Enniskillen, Lisnaskea and Irvinestown. "I will operate my services from those three locations and the District Management Team are now looking to the future, for the next five years to see what the need is."

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 13 Aug 09

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