Failure to recover police officer numbers in NI unimaginable, Boutcher says
The PSNI has launched a recruitment campaign as the chief constable said he wants the force to grow to at least 7,000 officers.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has launched a recruitment campaign, with Chief Constable Jon Boutcher warning that a failure to recover officer numbers would be “unimaginable”.
Amid an ongoing budget crisis, the force currently has 6,300 officers, the lowest number in its history.
Mr Boutcher said he needed more officers to ensure people in Northern Ireland were given the same level of protection as in the rest of the UK.
This is the first recruitment campaign to shortlist candidates to the PSNI merit pool since 2021.
There will be a three-week advertising campaign aimed at attracting new recruits to embark on a 22-week training programme.
Starting officers would have a salary of £34,000.
Mr Boutcher has said he wants to grow the force to 7,000 officers in three years. This, along with the recruitment of additional civilian staff, would require an additional £200 million in funding.
This money would have to be agreed by Northern Ireland’s powersharing Executive.
Mr Boutcher said what he was doing was “responsible planning”.
He added: “We last went out for recruitment in 2021. That pool of people that was successful in being selected has now almost run dry.
“When I became chief constable we had not been recruiting for a while because of financial challenges.
“We started recruiting in April last year. We recruited because we are in such a challenging position with our numbers.
“We can’t go below what we are currently at, which is 6,300.
“We lose about 350 police officers a year through retirement and normal reasons for leaving.
“This is about getting a pool of police officers that we have selected to join this organisation.
“Additionally to that, it is only right and proper that I plan to put this organisation back onto a footing where it needs to be with regards numbers.
“Our workforce are exhausted. They are doing remarkable things every day.”
The Chief Constable said: “What I want to do, with the support of the Executive and the Department of Justice, is to plan for the next three years, to get back to 7,000 police officers.
“To be clear, 7,000 police officers is not nearly enough for this organisation. But it is a recovery plan to get us back into a position to provide the policing service that we want to provide.”
Mr Boutcher said it would not be a resigning matter for him if he did not get the funding he requires.
He said: “I will do everything in my power, with every breath I have, to show the arguments as to why we need to be funded to 7,000 officers.
“Anything below that is almost unimaginable.”
The chief constable said the current funding pressures mean victims of crime are currently being failed.
He said: “Already in my time here we have had to get assistance from colleagues in Scotland to help deal with some of the challenges in Northern Ireland.
“If you have less police officers, you get less of a service, less policing.
“If we don’t get the numbers, the reality for Northern Ireland is you will not have the safer communities the programme for government requires, we won’t be able to end violence against women and girls.
“Citizens in Northern Ireland should be protected the same as elsewhere in the United Kingdom and in the island of Ireland.”
Mr Boutcher said he also wanted the force to continue to grow among groups currently under represented in policing.
He said: “We must be reflective of the communities we serve if we want our communities to have confidence in us as a police service.”
The application process for student officer recruitment will close at 3pm on February 12.
The PSNI will also launch recruitment for call handler staff next week.
Policing Board chairman Mukesh Sharma said: “We encourage people from all walks of life and community backgrounds to consider policing as a career of choice as we want policing to be reflective and representative of the diversity of the community it serves.”
The PSNI’s recruitment partner Deloitte manages the initial assessment stages of the recruitment process which include an online application form, online initial selection test and assessment.
Applicants can be between the ages of 17 and 57.
The Police Federation for Northern Ireland said the recruitment drive is an “essential first step towards re-building officer numbers”.
Chairman Liam Kelly said: “Our hope is that this is a turning point.
“We have to halt the decline in officer numbers and work towards bringing the size of the service up to where it needs to be.
“Reaching a headcount of 7,000 within three years is the ambition but it is all heavily conditional on the PSNI receiving a budget that allows it to go out and recruit.”
Justice Minister Naomi Long said the need to recover police officer numbers in Northern Ireland is “widely accepted”.
She said: “I will continue to seek the best possible financial package for justice in Northern Ireland.”