The Police Service of Northern Ireland's Emergency Planning Unit works together with local government, statutory and community partners in planning for, response to and recovery from emergencies and disruption. Examples include widespread flooding, severe weather or other major incidents.
Civil Contingencies
The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and the Northern Ireland Civil Contingencies Framework provide statutory guidance for this work.
The Strategic Coordination Centre in Police Headquarters is a purpose built facility for joint coordination. This enables partners to work more effectively together and share resources and expertise, to mitigate the impact of emergencies on communities. Major events have been planned and delivered from this location, including the G8 Summit, Olympic Torch Relay, Giro D’Italia and Queen’s Baton Relay.
The Emergency Planning Unit is the organisation's link to the National Police Coordination Centre, monitoring police capability in line with national standards.
Joint Emergency Services Interoperability (JESIP)
The JESIP principles enable multi-agency partners to work together to provide the best possible response to major incidents and emergencies. The Emergency Planning team lead on the embedding of these principles within the Police Service and with Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and HM Coastguard to deliver incident-specific planning.
Disaster Victim Identification (DVI)
Major incidents and emergencies may result in fatalities. Emergency planning oversee body recovery and identification, casualty bureau and family liaison functions to enable the Police Service of Northern Ireland to respond to these incidents in a sensitive, robust and professional manner.
Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRNe)
Officers are trained to respond to and minimise harm in the event of an incident involving Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) or other hazardous materials.
