Chief Constable says PSNI 'serving two masters' as Police Federation says Stormont is a 'major part' of the problem
The Chief Constable says police in Northern Ireland have “two masters” and is therefore falling between the cracks – as the Chair of the Police Federation claims that Stormont is a major part of the problem facing policing in the province.
The comments come amid dire warnings about the financial and staffing issues facing the force.
Last week the News Letter reported a letter from the Jon Boutcher to the Prime Minister, where the police chief said that he considers the recent unrest in Northern Ireland to be “an emergency situation” and therefore extra funding is required from government ministers. The letter also said that two police officers have taken their own lives in recent months – linking it to the pressures of working in an “exhausted” organisation.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Mr Boutcher in Belfast on Monday, where funding was discussed.
After the meeting, the News Letter asked the Chief Constable why he felt he had to write to the Prime Minister about the financial situation the PSNI faced – and whether Stormont politicians hadn’t made the case strongly enough for extra funding.
Mr Boutcher said the first and deputy first minister made the case for more “grant” to Northern Ireland in the first days of the Starmer premiership. “Because we seem to fall between the cracks – policing is devolved but national security isn’t. So national security threats, we have to manage linked in with funding from Westminster. The policing is actually devolved through the Assembly. So we have sort of got two masters there, if you will”, he said.
“So I’m going to point out to everybody the reality of the situation in a way that they understand exactly where we are [about] the condition of the PSNI today. And equally I will say that people in other public services have obviously done it for their organisations. Well I’m simply doing it for ours. And I think what anybody would say when they come and speak to our officers, when they look at out numbers, that there is an absolutely compelling argument to address this. But we do need the funding to do that. So all these conversations can only help to inform and educate people about the seriousness of the situation. And that’s what I’m trying to do”.
The Chair of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, Liam Kelly, told the Prime Minister that Stormont is ‘a major part of the policing problem’.
He supported the Chief Constable’s assessment by setting out the deep and worsening crisis facing the PSNI and made a direct appeal for UK Government intervention.
Afterwards, Mr Kelly said: “Regrettably our Stormont Government is not doing enough to fight our corner. They are shying away and procrastinating instead of leading the campaign to get the resources that are required to maintain the full range of policing services. The commitment to have 7,500 officers in 2020 under New Decade New Approach was not progressed or funded and now our numbers are fast approaching 6,000.
“The pressures our officers are under are worrying and increasing as they work tirelessly and with great professionalism to safeguard this entire community.
“I asked the PM to intervene directly to sort out the mess we are in. We are in crisis and our local politicians, senior civil servants and their Departments need to stop procrastinating and hiding behind suffocating processes that inevitably fail to deliver timely solutions. Policing simply cannot be allowed to fail and needs urgent positive intervention and long-term sustainable funding.
“Time is not on our side and it is my earnest hope that the PM will respond positively to what we had to say to him.”