Crime levels in Northern Ireland fell by nearly 16 per cent in the first four months of the current year, Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde has reported.
He told a public session of the policing board in Belfast yesterday that crimes recorded dropped by 15.7 per cent. Some 39,500 crimes were recorded, with statistics showing significant falls in robberies, violent crimes and criminal damage. However, his force's crime solving rate was the lowest among forces in Britain with which the PSNI is deemed comparable.
Sir Hugh said he would seek advice with the heads of such police services to see how clear-up rates can be improved. He said he wanted to see rates higher than 20 per cent very quickly.
The PSNI believes quicker action by scientific experts involved in forensic evidence could improve the figures. It is understood prosecutors have anywhere between 5,000 and 6,000 files before them awaiting action and that procedures in Northern Ireland are more involved and slower than those in Britain.
Referring to the handling of forensic evidence, Sir Hugh told members of the policing board: "There's no point having our scientists and crime scene investigators recovering a fingerprint and turning it round in 24 hours if the investigating officer sits on it for two weeks."
On paramilitary activity, the PSNI said the IRA was standing by its commitments on standing down its units and ending criminality. However, Sir Hugh firmly pointed the finger at the UDA, claiming it was behind violence in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, and Bangor, Co Down, during the summer, and claiming that such trouble had "been nipped in the bud".
Facing questions from Sinn Féin members of the board, Sir Hugh said he had no plans to revisit his decision to deploy new-style plastic baton rounds known as AEPs. He pointed out that such weapons had been used on just two occasions - during severe trouble following the contested Whiterock parade in Belfast in September 2005 and during the violence in Bangor last month during which shots were fired at officers.