Quoting from Chris Patten's, 'A New Beginning: Policing in Northern Ireland', Irvinestown Fermanagh District Policing Partnership member, Mannix Magee suggested at last week's meeting that Irvinestown PSNI Station was, 'still a forbidding fortress structure'.
Mr Magee, who is from Irvinestown, asked for a progress report on the implementation of the Patten 53 recommendations.
" I am aware, for example, that some work has been carried out inside the Police station but, externally, it is still a forbidding 'fortress' structure,
Chief Inspector Alywin Barton confirmed that considerable work had been carried out to the interior of Irvinestown Police station and, along with that work, the fence had been removed from the top of the front wall.
He went on: 'I am unhappy with the remaining frontage and I have requested Estate Services to explore the removal of the wall and its replacement with an appropriate boundary placed further into the complex".
He suggested that this would allow parking at the front outside the perimeter of the Station for visitors and or the public to actually see the building.
"I would hope that this would create a more welcoming environment and, accordingly, an atmosphere where the public are happy to visit and interact with the Police".
Turning to Enniskillen Station, Mr Barton referred to meetings that had explored the 'softening up' of the Station's frontal image and, likewise, the shoreline which, he suggested, was so visible to tourists.
He revealed that, arising from those discussions, the perimeter would be returned to its original 19th century stone wall boundary, with the addition of a cosmetic paladin fence to control access.
He said efforts were ongoing to have the screening and the sangar (look-out) cage removed from the front whilst proposal plans for the Patten 53 work were awaited.
(Patten 53 proposal states: 'Existing Police stations, subject to the security situations in their areas and to health and safety considerations, should progressively be made less forbidding in appearance, more accessible to public callers and more congenial for those working in them').
