The Policing Plan 2024-25 sets out the priorities for the Isle of Man Constabulary over the coming year, and focusses on community policing, protecting vulnerable people from exploitation and addressing youth offending.
Tackling serious and organised crime is also listed as a priority. This aligns with Government’s Island Plan 2024 priority commitment to secure our Island’s entry points from organised crime groups who seek to bring drugs, weapons and illegal money to the Island.
The Policing Plan 2024-25 has been created by the Department of Home Affairs. The feedback received as part of the public consultation on policing earlier this year has been very helpful; as well as the Chief Constable’s own assessments of threats, harm and risk.
Minister for Justice and Home Affairs, Jane Poole-Wilson MHK, said:
'Our main aim is to keep our Island a safe place to live and work to help maintain the high quality of life which we enjoy here. The Constabulary continues to have a significant and positive effect on the overall safety of our community.
'It’s critical that we ensure that we can respond quickly to evolving threats which face our Island, and the Policing Plan is part of that. The Policing Plan sets the high level aims and objectives for the Police from the Department and ensures the Chief Constable can effectively prioritise resources on the things that matter to our community and which help to keep us all safe.'
Within the plan there are specific objectives for each of the priorities, which set out how the Constabulary will achieve and measure success.
Objectives include maintaining and building capacity in the Proactive International Money Laundering Investigation Team (PIMLIT), working with partners to provide the right support for people with mental health challenges, and reducing the number of repeat victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse and sexual violence.
Chief Constable, Russ Foster KPM, said:
'The three key policing purposes for the Isle of Man Constabulary are; protecting vulnerable people, reducing harm in our communities and tackling criminality.
'These are underpinned by the priorities outlined in Policing Plan. We continue to work in partnership to develop and refine our response to these shared concerns from Government, the public and the Constabulary. As these are broadly similar to last year, there is a significant amount of work which has already been progressed – including the introduction of new powers to tackle domestic abuse and sexual offences, a focus around reducing violence in public spaces, as well as optimising our efforts to disrupt criminal activity at our points of entry which are at risk of being exploited by organised criminals.'
The Policing Plan for 2024-25 will be laid before the October sitting of Tynwald and is available to read in full on the Register of Tynwald Business.
