PSNI aims to lift all-time low officer levels

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) will launch an officer recruitment campaign on Wednesday, aiming to lift numbers from an all-time low.

It has said its "recovery plan" will require £200m in extra finance from Stormont.

Chief Constable Jon Boutcher wants a service with 7,000 officers by 2028 – it currently has 6,300.

He recently warned the PSNI was at "a watershed moment" after years of funding problems.

The new campaign will be the first significant drive to recruit trainees since 2021.

They will be offered a starting salary of £34,000, which includes a £4,000 allowance commonly referred to as "danger money".

Recruitment has slowed dramatically in recent years and not kept pace with departures.

Mr Boutcher is pushing ahead with the campaign while awaiting approval for additional money from the Northern Ireland Executive.

Last week the PSNI told a committee of MPs that it needed £200m spread over the next five years.

As well as new officers it would pay for 400 more civilian staff.

There has been a long-running debate over police numbers.

The New Decade New Approach deal in 2020 gave a political commitment to the PSNI having 7,500 officers, as envisaged under policing reforms two decades ago.

Last year the PSNI said there was "a compelling case" for 8,500 officers, based on comparisons with other UK police services.

Officer strength is an operational matter for the chief constable.

He pays for them out of his annual budget allocation from the Department of Justice.

Justice minister Naomi Long has stated there is an urgent need to "stabilise and improve" current numbers.

SDLP Foyle assembly member and NI Policing Board member Mark H Durkan has said there has been a "steady decline" in police officer numbers over the years which has been "seriously felt in communities".

"The police have become stretched, especially community policing, which has impacted their ability to respond to calls, engage with communities and also victims of crime," he told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.

"That has had an impact of eroding confidence in policing and undermining how far we have come in policing," he said.

Durkan said he believes any move to increase policing numbers is something that is "backed by all parties" at the Stormont assembly and said "every society needs a fully functioning police service".

He said the police must encourage people from various backgrounds to apply and ensure the PSNI is "more representative of the society it serves".

Former PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Jon Burrows said that issues around recruitment and retention mean that it could take five years "before you see the bodies on the ground in terms of larger numbers", rather than three years.

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster, he said: "The student officer training programme is 21 week long, then there's a probationary programme. Prior to that you have exams, scenarios and employment checks so this isn't something that happens overnight."

He said that the £34,000 starting salary is a "significant improvement" and "recognises the work and effort that officers go through and I think that helps".

However, his concern was getting the "right people" to stay in the role.

"We need to make sure we get the right people. We want to keep them when they join. We don't want to lose them after two or three years."

Mr Burrows said that recruiting 550 to 600 officers a year is a "logistical challenge" to be able to cope with.

"It's a competitive field out there", he said.

"There are a lot of jobs out there in the criminal justice area and there's not an infinite pool of people for those and we want the right people."