Graduate College Brown Bag Lecture Series: “Policing in Northern Ireland: Community Control, Community Policing and the Search for Legitimacy”

Al Hays, director of the Public Policy Program and professor of political science, will present “Policing in Northern Ireland: Community Control, Community Policing, and the Search for Legitimacy.” This presentation will explore the recent struggles of Northern Ireland to create a legitimate police force that is viewed as responsive to the needs of both the Catholic/nationalist community and the Protestant/unionist community. Three types of legitimacy are explored:  democratic legitimacy through popular control, professional legitimacy of trained public officials and legitimacy through responsive implementation.