People will come to unnecessary harm in Northern Ireland due to the cash-strapped police’s current inability to investigate dangerous offenders, the chief constable has warned.
Jon Boutcher said the PSNI is no longer sufficiently resourced to keep society safe.
He delivered the stark message to members of the Northern Ireland Policing Board at his monthly appearance before his oversight body in Belfast.
Mr Boutcher said the PSNI was facing a £15 million shortfall in the coming financial year. He said this was much improved on the £101 million gap the service had been projecting before it was recently allocated an extra £86 million.
But he said the constant battle to secure the money needed to fund the service was proving a distraction for the organisation’s leadership team, while creating uncertainty for officers and staff.
The region’s most senior officer said it was vital the police secured the £200 million extra required across the coming five years to fund a recruitment plan to increase officer numbers from the historically low 6,300 at present to 7,000.
“The reality of what has been allowed to happen is that we now have the lowest numbers of officers within local policing in our history and, similarly, unprecedentedly fewer numbers in the investigative parts of the organisation that tackle high harm offending such as violence against women and girls,” Mr Boutcher said in his monthly statement to the board.
“As chief constable that is a huge statement to make, but put simply, the PSNI has been reduced to historically low numbers, has insufficient neighbourhood officers to keep communities safe, insufficient detectives to investigate and manage dangerous offenders, and is generally not resourced to keep society safe.
“Despite the unbelievably heroic efforts of officers and staff across the organisation, people will come to harm who should not because we have been reduced to a skeleton police service.”
Elaborating on the issue during the meeting at board headquarters, Mr Boutcher added: “The issue of finance remains a critical one.
“We will have to find a way to pay for recruitment of officers and staff. The additional cost to recover our workforce levels is around £200 million over the next five years. As the board knows, I continually set out the consequences of the organisation not being able to keep people safe due to our significantly reduced and dangerously low workforce numbers.
“This board rightfully holds me to account for everything that we do. Such a process becomes somewhat unworkable and more of a damage limitation exercise if we do not have the resources to police Northern Ireland.”
Mr Boutcher said he would be “pushing hard” at both Stormont and Westminster to plug the £15 million gap for 2025/26.
“However, I cannot be any clearer that the implications of inadequate policing numbers have already had a serious impact on victims of crime, local communities and our workforce,” he said.
“This will only get worse without the recovery of our police numbers. It’s for that reason that our next five year policing plan will focus on victims, communities and our workforce.”
The chief constable said there was “nowhere else to cut” within the PSNI as he also bemoaned a lack of multi-year budget settlements.
“To only have one year funding to try to plan for this organisation, to future proof this organisation for the next decade or two decades, whether that be estates or workforce, is almost impossible on one year funding,” he said.
“We need to have some sort of comprehensive spending review process so that we can properly calculate what this organisation needs, and that includes establishing the head count of this organisation, because the 7,000 officers falls considerably short of where we ultimately need to be.”
He added: “We’ve got to get on with policing Northern Ireland, not fighting for money, it distracts us and it provides uncertainty for a workforce that deserves certainty.
“So we will fight for that £15 million and I’m confident somehow, by hook or by crook, we’ll achieve it – but it’s no way to conduct a business as important as policing.”
The Police Federation for Northern Ireland, the body that represents rank and file officers, said Mr Boutcher had provided a “wake up” call to political leaders.
PFNI chair Liam Kelly said: “After many years of significant underinvestment, the PSNI has been in a crisis for some time.
“Our officer numbers are historically at their lowest and we regrettably no longer have the capacity to cope effectively with everything that’s thrown at us.
“The situation is dire and getting worse by the day. Something has got to give.
“We’ll continue to call for a proper funding model and not this wholly unsatisfactory stitch-and-make-do approach.
“The service is threadbare and no amount of short-term handouts will adequately reverse and fix the problems.
“I agree with Mr Boutcher that the PSNI has been reduced to become a skeleton service. It is an irrefutable fact. This should be an urgent wake-up call for ministers in the Stormont Executive.”
