PSNI CHIEF Constable Sir Hugh Orde has said that 2008 will be a very difficult year for policing, perhaps the most difficult since he took up the position in 2002.
The difficulties, said Sir Hugh,will revolve around increased engagement with Sinn Féin.
He also referred to what he described as "tribal" dimensions that had come to the fore recently in meetings of the policing board, as well as to the large amounts of money (£35 million) and resources being devoted to judicial inquiries, including those into the murder of Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson and Portadown Catholic Robert Hammill.
The chief constable will meet Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams next Friday in Belfast to discuss policing in republican areas, particularly in west Belfast, the area that Mr Adams represents as an MP.
It follows robust exchanges in the past fortnight between Sir Hugh and Mr Adams about the efficacy of the PSNI's policing operations in west Belfast. In the wake of the murder of Frank "Bap" McGreevy in west Belfast, Mr Adams charged that "the PSNI [was] not up to the job at this time of providing the civic policing service that the public demands and needs".
Sir Hugh responded forcefully. Yesterday, he said that Mr Adams should understand that megaphone politics was not the way to go and that policing could not be used as a political football.
"West Belfast is a particularly challenging area. My officers are trying to deliver efficient policing in the teeth of criticism from Sinn Féin," said Sir Hugh.
The PNSI chief, who was speaking at a breakfast briefing in Dublin organised by the Public Relations Institute of Ireland, welcomed engagement with senior Sinn Féin representatives as a huge step forward.
"The first public meeting that I had with Gerry Adams was important. The reality is that for many years that police officers were talking to Sinn Féin behind the scene to try and move the [ situation] on," he said.
Sir Hugh said that over the years there had "been some strange meetings in some strange places" and he emphasised the importance of dialogue.
"It's sitting down and saying there are key questions in your community that we are not picking up. Who do we speak to? It's about empowering communities," he said.
Sir Hugh, while praising the model of the policing board, did implicitly criticise it for its increasing polarity. "I get more strategic questions from my junior officers than I do from the policing board. It has gone a bit tribal at the moment," he said.
Sinn Féin's Alex Maskey told the BBC he was surprised by the chief constable's comments. "Hugh Orde has never, ever once said to the policing board, 'by the way folks, you are not actually asking me the right questions, or you are not asking me the strategic questions'."
In his address Sir Hugh pointed to the progress made during his 5½-year tenure. Citing a recent opinion poll, he said 84 per cent of people in Northern Ireland believe the PSNI can deliver an efficient policing service.
Catholics now made up 24 per cent of the service, compared to with 8 per cent in 2002. Female officers now make up 26 per cent, compared with 11 per cent five years ago.
He said he was confident that by 2011, 30 per cent of officers will be Catholic, a key recommendation of the Patten report on policing in the North.
He also praised the Garda Síochána for its success in apprehending and disrupting the activities of dissident republicans.
