Don't let police budget cuts impact disproportionally on rank and file: Trevor Clarke

With the PSNI under increasing pressure to reduce its budget, political representatives on the NI Policing Board have questioned Simon Byrne on his plans to combat crime while officer numbers are forecast to fall as low as 6,000 – well below the 7,500 envisaged in the Patten Report.

At a meeting of the policing board on Thursday, it was also revealed that PSNI bosses are set to ground one of three police helicopters due to a “grim” and “bleak” budgetary outlook.

DUP MLA Trevor Clarke said: “There is an onus on the chief constable to ensure that cuts across the organisation are applied in a way that does not store up problems for the future.

"The current pause on recruitment is preventing the next generation of officers from entering the profession, yet despite this the PSNI plans to run promotion competitions to more senior ranks.”

The South Antrim representative added: "We need to avoid a situation where the PSNI becomes top-heavy in terms of its representation at senior management levels.”

Mr Byrne has said that recruitment is also set to be paused as the organisation grappled with a £107 million shortfall.

At Thursday’s meeting, UUP MLA Mike Nesbitt asked Mr Byrne for an update on the situation in Newtownards, where crime gangs made up of former UDA members have been involved in a violent feud.

He also asked the chief constable: “In terms of your assessment of the Provisional IRA, there was a 2015 assessment – I’m wondering whether you are sticking with that because you have reassessed since 2015, or whether 2015 is the last assessment?”

Responding on the chief constable’s behalf, ACC Bobby Singleton said that to date there have been “140 incidents linked to this criminal feud,” and added: “We have seen a lower frequency in recent weeks, but there have still been a number of incidents during the month of May”.

Commenting on the Provisional IRA assessment from 2015, ACC Mark McEwan said: “In terms of PIRA, that is the last assessment we have had, and there is no reason to vary from that”.

The 2015 ‘Assessment of Paramilitary Groups in Northern Ireland’ said that the PIRA Army Council was still overseeing both Sinn Fein and the remaining structures of the terror organisation.

The report said: “PIRA members believe that the PAC [Provisional Army Council] oversees both PIRA and Sinn Fein with an overarching strategy”.