Sinn Fein's 'qualified' support for PSNI stifling recruitment: Police Federation

Chairman Liam Kelly said a range of issues around recruitment, retention and remuneration all have to be addressed, but said more whole-hearted support from Sinn Fein representatives would be helpful.

Figures published this week revealed that 49 probationary constables, starting on a basic salary of £21,000, quit in the past financial year – up from 25 during the previous 12 months.

Mr Kelly said that while he had met individual Sinn Fein members and found them to be supportive, he said the party could do more.

"With the dealings I have had with Sinn Fein politicians I get a genuineness from them, that they do want to be seen to be supporting policing,” he said.

"They have issues obviously with legacy and other matters, but there is a willingness there".

However, Mr Kelly added: "We have what we could term ‘qualified support’ from the biggest nationalist party.

"Sinn Fein have only ever turned up at the launch of the new recruitment campaign – that was the first time they got involved in that – but, to date, I don’t believe that they actually have done that advocacy to the full extent of saying that police is a fully legitimate career.”

Mr Kelly has also raised concerns that the number of restrictions placed on a police officer is not being reflected in the annual salary – particularly at the lower end of the pay scale.

As well as not being legally permitted to take industrial action, police officers can be called upon to cover the duties of other public sector workers, such as ambulance staff, if they go on strike – even if the officer has a conscientious objection to crossing a picket line.

"If there is a lawful purpose for them to be there, then whether they ethically or morally disagree with it is irrelevant. They have to be there,” Mr Kelly said.

"They can have private opinions around that but when they are in a public-facing forum, and performing a policing function, then they have to do that without question.

“We’ve done it before. During Covid we had people embedded in with the ambulance service.”

Commenting specifically on the unique circumstances affecting police officers, Mr Kelly said: “We have so many restrictions on us, both in our private lives and the fact that technically you are never off duty.

"According to our Code of Ethics, you have a positive obligation to be a police officer 24/7, and there is a contract of understanding with government that they would recognise that financially… but that just seems to have been lost. For example, if a police officer was off duty and an assault occurred in front of them and they didn’t take any positive action, they could be done for neglect of duty.

"They literally are only off duty on a computer system – they are actually never off duty at all.”

Mr Kelly added: "And there are also restrictions on what police officers can do for secondary employment or in terms of business interests.

"The remuneration, for those restrictions, in my mind is clearly not enough.”