PSNI urges Sinn Féin recruitment support

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has urged Sinn Féin to ask its supporters to consider a career in the police.

Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin said the number of Catholic officers in the force "seems to have stalled".

It comes as the PSNI launches a recruitment drive, with the hope of recruiting 400 new officers.

DCC Martin said a return to a 50-50 recruitment process should not be ruled out.

The 50-50 process was introduced as part of the Patten policing reforms, and was aimed at increasing the number of Catholic officers in a predominantly Protestant force.

The Patten Recommendations, laid down in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, aimed to make a predominantly Protestant police service - approximately 90% of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's officers were Protestant - more welcoming to the Catholic community and more representative of Northern Ireland's demographic composition.

The PSNI replaced the RUC in November 2001, and the 50-50 recruitment policy ran for its first 10 years until 2011, during which the number of police officers from a Catholic background increased from 8% to 31%.

But the deputy chief constable expressed concern at the levels of Catholic recruitment in the past few years.

"We have the same application rate (from Catholics) that we have had for several years now," he said.

"It is sitting at around one third of all applicants, but those who actually make it into training and attest as constables, is about one in five.

"One in five is simply not good enough." he added.

"What we are calling for is anybody with influence within the catholic community, within the nationalist and republican community - churches, political parties, community, cultural and sporting backgrounds, schools - please do what you can to step forward and actively and noticeably advocate and encourage Catholics to consider joining the police," he told BBC Radio Foyle.

"We have obviously encouraged Sinn Fein to do that. That would be a helpful move and would certainly be a very positive contribution to the debate."

Should that continue, the force's composition rate would start to fall back, he said, which would be unacceptable.

"The police service must be reflective of the community it serves," he said.

"That's necessary for community support, community confidence and indeed legitimacy."

DCC Martin said all options, including the return of 50-50 recruitment, "should be considered."

"It is a political decision not in the gift of the PSNI, though I do like to think our voice would be heard," he said.

In the 2017 recruitment drive, the PSNI received 7,696 applications to join the service.