Chief constable Simon Byrne reveals police need £4.5m to ‘police Brexit’

He said there is a funding pressure regarding a “£4.5m gap” with a commitment to fund officers “to police the Brexit challenge”.

Nearly 200 of the new police officers recruited for neighbourhood duties have been earmarked for border areas, he told the committee.

“Criminals will exploit any gaps, in the opportunity to raise money – differences in tariffs, differences in the Common Travel Area – we are alert to them, they could be exploited,” Mr Byrne added.

“We have focused more effort on the haulage industry and are proposing to invest different operational teams to see can we step up in relation to policing of hauliers and increasing the policing of the road network to make sure we learn some of the lessons of the last 12 months, and where we can use intelligence to intercept, interdict and put criminals on the back foot.”

Simon Byrne said: “We are still three months out from the finish line.

“All we know is that finish line is coming quickly and there are details to tidy up.”

Senior officers said the PSNI enjoyed close relations with the Garda and had influenced the UK-wide policing structure’s engagements around the EU withdrawal which related to the Republic.

Assistant chief constable Mark McEwan said: “There have been certain issues around clarity and some political sensitivities around direct negotiations, around our ongoing transfer of information and other matters in the justice and home affairs side of things.

“Those conversations have stepped up, we have very strong relationships.”

Green Party MLA Rachel Woods asked about the £4.5m for budgetary pressures.

She said: “Is that in general or is that an outstanding bid from the PSNI to DoJ relating to Brexit?”

Mr Byrne said: “That is a specific bid relating to Brexit. It relates solely to that issue.”

The chief constable said he is committed “to growth to 7,500 officers” in the service.

Ms Woods then referred to the previous chief constable and security concerns he aired about Brexit. She asked the current chief does he still share those concerns “in the current context”.

Mr Byrne replied “Absolutely. We can assume, and we’re doing close work with the National Crime Agency who have conducted their own analysis that we’re patched into, which says that criminals will exploit any gaps in these sort of opportunities to raise money.”