SINN FÉIN and the PSNI are striving to improve the "engagement" between republicans and police, chief constable Sir Hugh Orde and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said yesterday.
The assertion was made following more than four hours of what was termed "robust but positive" talks at Hillsborough between Sir Hugh and many of his senior officers, and a high-level delegation from Sinn Féin.
The talks were held amid the lingering fallout between the two sides following a spate of serious crime, including murder, and also over the quality of the police response in republican areas.
Before the sides got together, Mr Adams and Sir Hugh restated their positions, which had peaked with sharp exchanges between republicans and senior officers at a policing board meeting earlier this month.
Mr Adams referred to his party's criticisms of the police adding: "The way the PSNI reacted to that was, I think, an over-reaction."
But Sir Hugh again denied this, saying: "I will not allow my organisation to be unfairly criticised. I made a robust response and I stand by that. If you want to have a conversation about policing, we do it sensibly, we do it rationally, we do it in a mature way. That's how you protect people. You do not protect people by shouting at the cops."
However, following the talks, the delegations stressed the positive aspect of their negotiations. "This engagement is part of a process," Mr Adams said.
"It is part of the building relationship and engagement between the communities we represent, and between us and the PSNI and I think we had a good, robust but positive engagement."
More needed to be done, he said, stressing that a newer and more positive relationship between the police and republicans was still evolving.
"We have a society that is in transition, within that society we have communities that are in transition and we have a police service that is in transition," he said. "Every so often we have a disjoint and that is made all the more jagged because of serious crime when people are murdered or raped. The PSNI have their responsibilities and so have the rest of us."
He said much of their discussion was taken up with the manner in which the police engaged with republican communities. He repeated that the PSNI was "in transition", adding: "clearly there has been progress . . . but there has been positive things happening but there is still more work to be done".
Sir Hugh agreed with the Sinn Féin leader's assessment of their talks, describing them as "a good frank exchange of views on some key strategic issues facing policing".
He added: "We are making substantial inroads [ in republican communities] and we are making communities substantially safer. Political parties and police officers are working closely together at senior level to drive that issue forward."
Sir Hugh backed the Sinn Féin president's comments about the PSNI and republicans gaining trust in each other.
"These things take time," he said. "It is difficult for both sides . . . All I have ever said is give us a chance to prove we can deliver an effective policing service. The benefit of today was the underwriting of that commitment by Sinn Féin, by meeting us and having a very constructive discussion.
"The common ground today was around a greater understanding of policing for Sinn Féin and a clearer understanding of what their communities want for us. . . . That's a really positive step forward."
Further talks are planned.