Together with Raoul Wallenberg Institute and London-based Democratic Progress Institute (DPI), PODEM organised a study visit to London and Belfast on 10th – 12th May 2016 to explore the best practices in police oversight, and to devise criteria towards an effective civilian monitoring system for police in Turkey.

In the London leg of the study visit, Dr Mike Hough from Birkbeck College explained the structure of the police in England and Wales. The team then held meetings with representatives of Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which oversees the police complaints system in England and Wales, and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), which independently assesses police forces in England and Wales and reports on their efficiency and effectiveness.

In the Belfast leg of the study visit, the team met Northern Ireland Office and Department of Justice representatives responsible with police reform. The team also met Peter Sheridan OBE, former police officer and chief executive of Co-operation Ireland, as well as Nigel Grimshaw, former chief superintendent and the current Director of City and Neighbourhood Services of Belfast City Council. The team got together with Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire to obtain information on the institution. The study visit continued with the Northern Ireland Policing Board, responsible for the oversight of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The team finally visited Intercomm, a civil society organisation focusing on conflict resolution and policing, and Dr Joanne Murphy from Belfast Queen’s University, the author of  “Policing for Peace in Northern Ireland: Change, Conflict and Community Confidence.”

The team included academics from the Police Academy of Turkey as well as experts on security sector reform.

You may view the program of the study visit by clicking here and the photographs by clicking here.

You may view the presentation made by David Knight from Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) here, and by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire here.

You may follow the link to read Intercomm’s 2014 report “Reflections on the Northern Ireland experience: The lessons underpinning the normalisation of policing and security in a divided society.”