New PSNI District Commander announced

Policing in Northern Ireland now faces its biggest shake-up in years as a result of significant budget pressures combined with a requirement to align with new Council structures by April 1.

phen Martin, the senior officer responsible for District Policing, outlined the new structure.

“The new District Councils come into existence on 1 April 2015, and I have been charged with shaping our front line service delivery so that our District Command boundaries mirror those councils.

“We will move from the existing seven policing Districts to 11. The 11 District Commanders have been appointed across Northern Ireland and Superintendent John Magill will be District Commander for Causeway Coast & Glens Area.

“He will be responsible for all aspects of local policing and setting Causeway Coast & Glens Area’s policing priorities along with the Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP).

Superintendent Magill will take up his new post with effect from 16 February 2015 in order to help shape and design policing in the new District.

“Causeway Coast & Glens Area is within the Northern Area co-ordinating tier which will be led by Chief Superintendent Raymond Murray in his new role as Area Co-ordinator.

“We are still in the process of finalising details on the exact structure of front line service delivery but it’s been decided that response teams will no longer exist.

“Instead there will be a mixture of 25 Local Policing Teams (LPTs) and over 30 Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs) across Northern Ireland as well as local detectives in each District.”

ACC Martin reminded the public that policing “remains a 24 hour, seven days a week operation and we will be there at people’s time of need.

“We can be contacted 24 hours a day on either 101 or for emergencies on 999”.