Letter: New interim PSNI Chief Constable is welcomed but he faces a frightening in-tray

I welcome the appointment of the interim chief constable and called for this to happen over six weeks ago.

I hope it will start to bring some badly needed stability to a service that is on the ropes.

We desperately need responsive, visible leadership and an ability to work through the list of very significant issues that need to be addressed at speed.

I wish Jon Boutcher well as he takes over this interim appointment.

The in-tray that awaits him is frightening. He will have to tackle the fallout from the data breaches as well as the loss of trust and confidence from the judicial review which found that his predecessor and the current deputy chief constable acted unlawfully in the case of the two officers involved in the Ormeau Road incident.

An important first step towards rebuilding officer morale and restoring internal confidence would be an early announcement by Mr Boutcher that he will not be appealing the judicial review decision.

As far as the Police Federation for Northern Ireland is concerned, he will be pushing an open door.

We are fully committed to working collaboratively, positively, and constructively with him to fix what’s broken. He needs to advocate better to government for the allocation of an effective budget so our depleted police service can start to regrow. Recruitment, remuneration and retention are vital components in bringing PSNI out of the resourcing crisis that it is in.

I will hopefully be meeting Mr Boutcher shortly and look forward to a positive and productive relationship with him.

Liam Kelly, Chair, Police Federation for Northern Ireland