Grave concerns over police numbers but ‘high harm’ crime still a priority: PSNI

The reassurance was issued after the Police Federation (PFNI) warned that the number of officers could fall below 6,000 by the end of this year.

PFNI chair Liam Kelly said there are “dire consequences” when policing is under-funded and said the ongoing recruitment freeze is “taking the PSNI into a place it has never been before”.

Mr Kelly said: “By the end of this year we could be facing having 6,000 officers on our books. I think we are in uncharted territory at the moment where we are with numbers.”

There are 6,673 serving PSNI officers at present. Mr Kelly highlighted that staffing levels are falling further below the 7,500-strong PSNI as envisaged in the 1999 Patten Report.

“That was against a backdrop of having no terrorism and operating in a peacetime environment,” he told the BBC’s Nolan radio show.

“Unfortunately we are not operating in that environment, and in fact our last census, from 2021, saw an increase in our population of another 300,000.

“So by my sums, and the formula that was used by Chris Patten to establish that safe number of police officers, that number should actually be in around 8,600, not 7,500.

“The terrorists are still on the stage and they are still attacking and threatening officers.”

The PSNI responded to the federation’s concerns, saying it had successfully argued for a less severe budget cut, but accepted that the PSNI is “going to shrink” between now and 2026.

Assistant Chief Officer Clare Duffield said: “The chief constable has previously made it clear how gravely concerned he was about the stark budget received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the drastic impact it will have upon police numbers.

“Despite securing some improvement on the indicative budget, the budget for 2023-24 has been reduced by 1.7%. As a result the police service is going to shrink over the next three years.

“We have taken steps in an attempt to address this with a series of decisions on cost reductions, including slowing or pausing recruitment, and a tight control of future internal promotion and selections.

Ms Duffield added: “The police service remain committed to keeping people safe. The public can continue to have confidence that we will still answer 999 calls and continue to patrol our neighbourhoods. We will continue investigate high harm crime and bring offenders to justice.”

In January, the PSNI said the outcome of the “first round of budgetary cuts” would be, by March, almost 96 fewer detectives, 97 fewer officers in areas such as roads policing and public order teams, and 115 fewer police staff across a range of other roles.

PFNI chair Mr Kelly said: “We have seen reducing budgets year on year, when it has been pointed out to the secretary of state this year that the dire consequences for the PSNI in relation to reducing their capability and their capacity to tackle, not only organised crime but terrorism as well, was taking the PSNI into a place it had never been before.”