Ford: Partnerships Vital For NI Security Date: Monday, June 07, 2010 Source: www.securityoracle.com

The new Northern Ireland Justice Minister is to outline moves to build community partnerships and make the Province safer during his keynote speech today. David Ford, who was elected on April 12, said there is now a “once in a generation” opportunity to reshape aspects of the justice system to achieve lower levels of crime following the recent devolution of policing powers. The Minister was speaking after it was revealed that his department would deliver Northern Ireland’s first Justice Bill in nearly 40 years after the summer recess. Ford said: “My speech will provide a platform to outline the opportunities that devolution has provided and detail what I intend to do to ensure we grasp them. “I will also be making a very strong case for building partnerships to make Northern Ireland safer – these partnerships cannot just be at a political level, they must be across the criminal justice system and across our community.” Ford added: “I did not join this Executive because I thought being Justice Minister would be easy or because no-one else was prepared to do the job or because I was the only nominee that would secure the cross-party support required. “I took it on because I was ambitious for our community and ambitious about the opportunities that the devolution of justice presents to make a real difference," he concluded.     Courtesy of SecurityOracle.com - The Secury Industry's Portal