Cost Of Policing Post-Twelfth Riots Revealed

The bill for policing parades and disorder in Northern Ireland over four days in July was £2.2m.

It followed serious rioting in north Belfast's Ardoyne, when nationalist rioters clashed with police in the area following an Orange Order parade on 12 July that was however completed peacefully.

Some 26 officers reported unfit for duty following injury at the rioting out of well over 2,000 officers being deployed over the two days 12th-13th July.

The figures from the Policing Board include helicopter costs and damage to vehicles.

In all, the cost of policing parades across NI from 1 April to 31 July was £3.67m.

However, the number of parades the PSNI did not provide officers for cover was much higher than those in focus with 490 taking place without any police attention.

The news emerged this week when members of the NI Policing Board's Human Rights and Professional Standards Committee received a briefing from Chief Superintendent Mark Hamilton, 'A' District Commander, on the issues for the PSNI concerning parading.

Discussions focussed not just on the costs and resources involved in policing parades for the period April 2010 to July 2010, but also on the wider impact that such serious disorder has across the whole community in Northern Ireland.

Speaking about the meeting, Chair of the Human Rights and Professional Standards Committee, Basil McCrea MLA said: "Whilst the Board has publicly praised the police handling of the serious violence that erupted across Northern Ireland during the summer months, parading is not just a policing issue.

"Now is the time to begin conversations and start working with the Department of Justice and other agencies to address issues around contentious parades so that we do not have a repeat of this serious disorder next year," he said.

"Such violence not only has an impact on the use of policing resources but has a significant longer term impact on police community relations and community confidence which is also a major concern for the Board.

"The parading issue is firmly on the agenda and Committee members are ready to talk to other agencies to help move the debate forward so that police are not faced with the same situation next summer."

(BMcC/KMcA)