Police officer numbers 'down by 128 in six months' - PFNI
The PSNI has seen a reduction of 128 officers in the past six months, according to the Police Federation of Northern Ireland.
Last updated 22nd Jun 2017
A new batch of 48 recruits are due to graduate at Garnerville College on Thursday.
However, since the last ceremony in January, 176 officers have left the force, creating that shortfall of 128.
PFNI Chairman, Mark Lindsay, described the situation as ‘a shameful reversal’ and called on the Government to end its cost-cutting austerity programme. “This loss of experienced officers, across a range of essential disciplines, is having a dreadful effect on those remaining and will impact negatively on the wider community," he said.
“Recruitment must keep pace with the loss of officer numbers as they decide to exercise their entitlement to retire from the service.
“We cannot allow a dangerous vacuum to develop. Neither can we expect fewer and fewer officers to do more and more. Ultimately, it will be wider society which will suffer.
“Senior officials and the Government must know that they are storing up trouble by failing to address this worrying shortfall in numbers. This is a dreadful reversal for the service.
“What’s worse is that we are aware that over 700 officers can retire over the next 12-18 months and that recruitment programmes will only fill a fraction of these positions.
“We cannot ignore this situation.
"Nationally, police chiefs are arguing for increased resources, and they’ve every justification for doing so. Our own Chief Constable has also warned of the damaging effects.
“In Northern Ireland, we are facing into a similar crisis, where visibility will all but disappear and the gains made over the past twenty years are at risk of being lost.
"The Government has to recognise the damage that is being done, and invest in policing rather than continue to slice away at an already inadequate budget.”