PSNI: Two applicants shortlisted for chief constable job

Two applicants have been shortlisted for the job of chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the BBC understands.

Sources have told the BBC the two are Jon Boutcher, who has been appointed interim chief constable and Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton.

A third applicant was not shortlisted, it is understood.

The Policing Board, which will appoint the successful candidate, has provided no details about the selection process.

When BBC News NI put the names to the PSNI, it received no reply.

The last time the job became vacant in 2019 four applicants were shortlisted.

Previous chief constable Simon Byrne resigned in September following a series of crises under his leadership.

Interviews are scheduled to take place the week beginning 6 November.

A five-person panel from the Policing Board will conduct the interviews.

The job pays £220,000 per annum on an initial contract of five years.

Mr Byrne quit in the wake of a court ruling that determined that two junior police officers had been unlawfully disciplined after making an arrest at a Troubles commemoration event in Belfast.

The previous month the force had mistakenly shared the identities of its entire workforce online in what was described by senior officers as a "major data breach".

From a very early stage it became clear that a number of high-profile policing figures who have a PSNI background, but who now operate in the upper echelons of policing in Great Britain, decided not to put their names forward.

I think there will be a degree of disappointment that some people ruled themselves out.

This is probably the most important chief constable appointment, given the circumstances, since Hugh Orde became chief constable and took forward the Patten reforms [of policing].

The PSNI finds itself in an extremely difficult place, not only in terms of morale in the organisation, but public confidence in it has also been severely dented.

Overarching all of this are severe budget difficulties - there are big bills coming down the track and there is going to be a shortfall in cash for the next two to three years that will manifest itself in continued cutbacks.

Whoever becomes chief constable will have to oversee, probably, the most difficult budget position in the PSNI's history.