“Fundamental change” is needed to ensure the Police Service of Northern Ireland is adequately resourced, a political leader has said.
Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie was speaking as officer numbers in the PSNI sit at 6,300, – well below the 7,500 recommended in the Patten Review more than 20 years ago.
This week, numbers have been bolstered with an additional 80 officers from Police Scotland, while the PSNI continues to investigate recent disorder in Belfast.
Last week, chief constable Jon Boutcher described the PSNI as an “outlier” compared to any other police organisation in England, Wales or Scotland – or the gardaí in terms of funding.
He said the Stormont Executive does not get enough money for public services in Northern Ireland, and said he is pressing ministers and the UK government about the issue.
Earlier, retired assistant chief constable Alan McQuillan claimed that Stormont is “ignoring a developing police funding crisis”.
He told the BBC: “Stormont has got the blinkers on. Northern Ireland politicians have failed policing.
“I think we are at the point of crisis now. There is no capacity to recruit and train people.”
Later on Tuesday, Mr Beattie said there is a crisis in policing around resources, staffing and political support.
“The headline is that our police, which should be sitting at 7,500 officers according to the Patten Review of Policing, is actually sitting at 6,300 officers,” he said.
“Yet that doesn’t tell the whole story, because from that 6,300 you need to remove those on long-term or short-term sick, those on maternity leave and those either assigned to an important desk job or are close to retirement.
“The available ‘officers on the beat’ figure is likely to be below 6,000. This creates an unbearable pressure on the force and on individual officers who are asked to do more with less.”
He added: “If politicians in Northern Ireland are not willing to stand up and address this then we cannot complain when our Chief Constable grabs the nettle and delves into the political arena to save the force he commands.
“This is a line in the sand for policing in Northern Ireland, we need fundamental change, including direct support from the Home Office.
“The recent riots, with paramilitary influence, combined with ongoing Republican terrorism are without a doubt a threat to national security and our police are on the front line of that threat.
“They need support, and they need resources if we, as a society, are to turn this around.”
In a statement around the additional police officers arriving from Scotland this week, the PSNI said: “Following a request to the National Police Co-ordination Centre for additional officers to support the policing operation, 80 officers from Police Scotland will arrive in Northern Ireland on Tuesday.
“We are really grateful for the support from our colleagues from Police Scotland and this will give us the vital additional resilience that we need at this time.”
