Simon Byrne said there will be 6,699 full-time officers by March – the lowest level since the PSNI was formed in 2001.
NORTHERN IRELAND’S CHIEF constable has warned that his force will shrink to its lowest levels since the PSNI was founded because of a funding shortfall.
“We will then have 6,699 full-time officers. This is 800 officers fewer than the commitment made in the New Decade, New Approach Agreement and the lowest officer numbers since the Police Service of Northern Ireland was formed.” There will also be 115 fewer police staff across a range of roles, a reduced vehicle fleet, damaged or broken police vehicles will wait longer for service or repair, and building and maintenance work on the police estate and other modernisation plans – digital and estate – will be deferred.“The message we delivered today is a bleak one. Inevitably with less police there will be less policing,” he told officers and staff.
“While there will be no redundancies, all parts of the police service are going to see significant change in the coming months as we restructure to minimise the risk to service delivery in priority areas. Working alongside our staff associations and trade unions the Service Executive Team will do all we can to support officers and staff in the coming months. Officer and staff welfare and wellbeing will remain a priority.
“The board fully supported the chief constable in seeking to secure an improved financial settlement from the Department of Justice for the police service,” she said.
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