One of the important roles for the DPP is to consult with the local community to find out their views on policing and the work of the DPP.
30 May 2006
NEWS RELEASE
Local Policing: We need to know what you think – Craigavon DPP
The Chair of Craigavon District Policing Partnership (DPP), Councillor Ignatius Fox, has urged everyone who receives the latest Public Consultation for District Policing Partnerships survey to complete and return it by 19 June.
“Over the next few days the survey will drop through the letter boxes of 1 in 10 households in the Craigavon borough and is the biggest policing survey of its kind”, Councillor Fox said.
“This survey forms an important part of our work in finding out what the community thinks about policing and what they want from the Police Service. The results, along with other consultations we carry out throughout the year, also helps us to do that.
“Discussions with local groups, issues raised at our public meetings and other information all help to establish with the District Commander local policing priorities for the Borough.”
The survey is the only Northern Ireland-wide public attitude survey undertaken by the Northern Ireland Policing Board that can be broken down into the 29 District Command Unit areas. This enables the Board to get an overall picture of what people think, while at the same time, each DPP can use the local results and the answers to specific questions they have asked to gauge public attitudes in their area.
“To help ensure communities get the kind of policing they need and deserve, I really do urge everyone who receives the questionnaire to be part of the process, to fill it in and return it by the 19 June”, Councillor Fox said.
The issues that respondents felt were of the highest priority in Craigavon in the last DPP Public Consultation were - Underage Drinking, Young People causing a Nuisance, Domestic Burglary, Speeding, and Drug Dealing. The top priorities that respondents wanted to see more Police resources devoted were beat/foot patrols, crime prevention and prompt responses to emergencies.
As well as helping to determine local policing priorities, the results will also help the DPP to establish police performance satisfaction levels which the DPP also monitors on behalf of the community.
Supporting Councillor Fox’s call, Eamon Fleming, DPP Vice Chair, said, “Craigavon DPP was set up to give communities a real voice on local policing and I believe has become an important and accepted part of local policing, having brought policing closer to the community and the community closer to policing. The survey is part of that and I look forward to a good response rate from the public,” he said.
Ends
For further information please contact Richard Cory-Wright, DPP Manager in Craigavon on 028 3831 2587
Notes to Editors
1. District Policing Partnerships Public Consultation
The 60,000 households were randomly selected from the Valuation and Lands Agency List of private addresses. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency conducts the postal survey on behalf of the Policing Board and DPPs.
2. Core Questions and DPP Specific Questions
The 27 core questions asked by the Policing Board cover attitudes to policing priorities, police resourcing, satisfaction with local policing and knowledge/satisfaction with DPPs. They also ask what people feel are the biggest local policing priorities in their District. In addition to the core survey questions, DPPs were given the opportunity to ask specific questions that will be asked only in their district only.
3. District Policing Partnerships – General Background
The establishment of DPPs was one of the 175 Recommendations made by the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland. Set up by the Policing Board on 4 March 2003, in accordance with the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 they were reconstituted on 2 December 2005.
The duties and responsibilities of each DPP are set out in Schedule 3 Part III of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000. Their role is set out in Section 16 and is to:
•Consult with the public to find out what issues in relation to policing and crime are of concern within the council district
•Identify local policing priorities arising from the consultation and recommend these to the District Commander so that they can be taken into account when the Local Policing Plan is being drawn up
•Monitor police performance against the objectives contained in the Local Policing Plan and the Annual Policing Plan as it relates to the district
•Engage with the community to obtain the co-operation of the public with the police in preventing crime
•Act as a general forum for discussion and consultation on all matters relating to the policing of the district.
4. The next DPP public meeting takes place at:
Millennium Court Arts Centre
William Street, Portadown
Thursday 1 June 2006 at 7.00pm
5. Craigavon DPP’s Members
Craigavon’s 19 member DPP has 9 Independent Members and 10 Political Members:
Independent Members
•Tony Elliott is a retired Teacher from Lurgan who has canvassed on behalf of the SDLP. He has served as an SDLP Counsellor for 2½ years
•Yvonne Sterritt is a homemaker and mother from Portadown and has canvassed on behalf of the SDLP.
•Phyllis Millington is a homemaker from Portadown.
•Tom French is retired and from Lurgan and has been reappointed to Craigavon DPP. Mr French has stood as a candidate in local, Northern Ireland and Westminster elections, and served as a local Councillor from 1978-1994. Mr French was the President of the Workers Party from 1996-2000.
•Grace Black is an Education Welfare Officer from Lurgan and has been reappointed to Craigavon DPP.
•Margaret Tinsley is a Human Resources Manager from Portadown and has been reappointed to Craigavon DPP. Mrs Tinsley has canvassed on behalf of the Democratic Unionist Party.
•Eamon Fleming is a retired Inland Revenue Officer from Portadown and has been reappointed to Craigavon DPP. Mr Fleming is affiliated with the SDLP.
•Hugh Casey, retired from Lurgan, has been reappointed to Craigavon DPP. Mr Casey canvassed for the Labour Coalition in the 1998 Assembly elections. He is a former mayor of Craigavon.
•Julie McNally is a Community Drugs and Alcohol Education Worker from Portadown and has been reappointed to Craigavon DPP.
Political Members
Cllr Sidney Anderson (DUP)
Cllr Ignatius Fox (SDLP)
Ald Samuel Gardiner (UUP)
Ald Arnold Hatch (UUP)
Cllr Mary McAlinden (SDLP)
Cllr Stephen Moutray (DUP)
Cllr Mark Russell (DUP)
Ald David Simpson (DUP)
Cllr Robert Smith (DUP)
Cllr Kenneth Twyble (UUP)
In both 2003 and 2004, the DPP commissioned NISRA (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency) to carry out an annual survey amongst local residents in the Borough. Summary reports of the survey results are available here.
NISRA will be carrying out the next local survey in May and June 2006 in the borough. The results from this survey will be available in September 2006.
To download a copy of the 2006 survey, click here
If you have not been included in the households surveyed, but would like to participate informally , download a copy of the survey, fill it in and email or post it back to the DPP Manager. For further details of how to get in contact with the DPP Manager, click here
To download a copy of the 2004 survey, click here