Police Service of Northern Ireland ‘needs extra £200m’ for staffing

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) says a plan to address declining numbers of officers and the recruitment of hundreds of new officers, will require £200m in additional funding over five years.

In September, PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher drew up a recovery plan to increase headcount to 7,000 by 2028 from about 6,300 officers.

The PSNI’s chief operating officer, Pamela McCreedy, gave evidence at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

She told MPs that the PSNI has formally submitted an urgent recovery plan to the Department of Justice to recover officer and staff numbers to 7,000 and 2,572 respectively over the next three years.

A new recruitment campaign for student officers is to be launched this month.

Ms McCreedy said the additional cost for recruitment is “estimated at around £200m over a five-year period and will require additional funding from the Northern Ireland Executive”.

She said “significant underfunding” since 2010, has “led to a declining police officer and staff headcount in Northern Ireland and is having a serious impact on victims of crime, local communities and the PSNI’s workforce”.

In November, it was announced that the PSNI is to get an an additional £37m funding, which will address its immediate budget problems.

Justice Minister Naomi Long said it would “sustain and stabilise” policing for the remainder of the financial year to April.