Number of Catholic PSNI officers predicted to fall to less than one in four

The number of Catholics in the PSNI could fall to just 23 percent in the next 10 years, Policing Board members have been warned.

Details of the predicted slump in Catholic representation were highlighted in a report provided to members of the board’s Resource Committee last month.

Alarm bells about the expected drop in Catholic officer numbers come as the PSNI prepares to launch a new recruitment drive next week.

The Policing Board’s ‘Monitoring PSNI Performance’ report reveals that by 2035 the number of Catholics in the PSNI could drop to less than a quarter of the overall makeup of the force.

The potential fall in Catholic officer numbers is highlighted in a section of the report headed ‘Roman Catholic Officer 10-Year Forecast’.

“Forecasts predict Catholic Officer representation could fall to 23% in 10 years due to retirements from the Patten period,” it warns.

“Members may wish to ask how the PSNI what strategies they will use to mitigate this?”

Catholics currently make up around 31 percent of the force’s membership and around 18 percent of its civilian staff.

Later this year the PSNI will mark its 25th anniversary.

It was established after the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland, chaired by Chris Patten, introduced wide-ranging reforms in the years after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Under Patten’s recommendations, 50:50 recruitment, which was scrapped in 2011, was intended to level up the numbers of Catholic and Protestants in the police.

SDLP Policing Board member Colin McGrath said the latest figures “should be a cause of serious concern for the Chief Constable, the Policing Board, the Justice Minister and wider society”.

“If any of these stakeholders are not responding to the alarming forecasts for Catholic officer recruitment, then they are failing to grasp the scale and seriousness of the problem,” he said.

“The PSNI was envisioned as a police service that represents the community it serves.

“It’s clear that there is a distinct lack of diversity that stretches far beyond one community.”

Mr McGrath said the “rule of law in Northern Ireland has suffered repeated and severe blows, secret talks with paramilitaries, amnesty schemes, flawed NCND (neither confirm nor deny) policy and the blocking of public inquiries into murders such as that of Sean Brown all erode confidence”.

The SDLP representative said the “challenges” faced by the PSNI are compounded by “chronic underfunding” of “and a lack of political urgency to undertake a comprehensive review of what has succeeded and what has failed since the Patten reforms”.

The south Down assembly member added that his party “remains committed to a new beginning to policing” in the north.

“Unfortunately, that vision has yet to be realised and there is a real sense that we are going backwards when it comes to a properly resourced and representative police service that commands the confidence of the community it serves,” he said.

SDLP leader Claire Hanna has called for a review of the PSNI and voiced concern that policing has drifted from the reforms introduced by the Patten Commission.

Ex-Catholic PSNI officers have recently voiced concern.

Recently retired former chair of the PSNI’s Catholic Guild, Superintendent Gerry Murray, has spoken of the need for a ‘cultural review’ of the force.

Another ex-officer, who had faced a death threat, recently told the Irish News there is a “severe lack of understanding” at PSNI leadership level over the difficulties faced by people from her community background.

Responding, Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said: “The Police Service of Northern Ireland is totally committed to being more representative of the communities we serve. We should recognise the progress made over the last 25 years with significant increases in the number of Catholic and female police officers working in our service today than when we formed in 2001.

“In my time here as Chief Constable it has been evident that for various complex reasons, some associated with us coming out of a conflict, some sections of society, including parts of the media and political commentators, routinely criticise policing. I understand of course people will have grievances some of which come from many decades past but the women and men of the PSNI simply want to do the best job they possibly can to keep all communities in Northern Ireland safe.

“This year will see the 25th anniversary of the PSNI, an organisation that most people herald as a success story. I am deeply concerned at persistent and often unjustified criticism and the outdated and unsupported views of dissident paramilitaries remaining as barriers to people seeing themselves having a career in the police. I absolutely accept that we in the PSNI need to do more to diversify our recruitment but we cannot make the difference that’s needed on our own. We need help, we need people in all communities in Northern Ireland to see policing as a career for them.

“I am immensely proud to be part of this organisation and see the positive difference every day being made to people’s lives because of the human rights based policing style and the professionalism of officers and staff. We will get things wrong, all professions make mistakes, but where we do make mistakes we will learn from them, we will own them.

“I am determined to do whatever I can to achieve the diversity that would mirror the richness of the communities that make up Northern Ireland. Come and help do that. “We’ll be launching our latest student officer recruitment campaign next week and very much welcome anyone who is interested in a career in policing to come and join us.

“Many people say they could not do what our officers and staff do. But as our workforce already shows, people from every section of our society, from all walks of life, have what it takes to be in the police, to be great problem solvers, communicators, public servants and most importantly who want to make Northern Ireland a safer and better place to live, work and visit. To make it a better place for our next generation.

“So I want to take this opportunity to encourage everyone, who like me thinks it’s essential that we are as representative a service as we can be, to help make that a reality and play their part by encouraging and supporting those who are willing to step up for their community and be part of that change. It is on all of us to support policing and encourage people from all backgrounds to join the PSNI.”