Northern Ireland’s chief constable has said the number of Catholics applying to join police is lower than he would like to see. Around 3,500 applications have been received in the latest recruitment campaign for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), which closes on Wednesday. Of those, approximately 27% were by those who identify as Catholic. The number of applicants is also lower than during previous recruitment campaigns, when just over 5,000 and almost 7,000 applications were received respectively.
The campaign comes at a time when PSNI officer numbers are at 6,300, with the chief constable describing this as “below where they need to be”, and aiming to boost numbers to 7,000. Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has said that number of Catholics applying to join is lower than he would have liked to see. “The figures are not what I want. There is no doubt about that. But Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he told the BBC.
He said it is “critically important” that the PSNI is representative. “I am very focused on trying to make sure that we do everything we possibly can,” he said. “This is the first campaign since 2021 and we’ve reached into not just the nationalist community but the Protestant working class communities, ethnic minority communities. “I’ve done that personally, all my colleagues have done that, to try and get more interest from people who would not traditionally have thought about the PSNI as an occupation.
“It’s a tough challenge but it’s one we’re up for.”. In terms of overall numbers, Mr Boutcher said if the PSNI had kept pace with forces in England, Scotland and Wales there would be probably be around 8,000-8,500 officers. He said the lower number of applicants is “mirroring” what is seen in other parts of the UK and Ireland, with other forces struggling to attract numbers. Meanwhile Mr Boutcher said he believes political leaders at Stormont are sympathetic.
“They, I think, understand more than they have ever understood because we are explaining it in a way that is incredibly compelling, and what I’m saying is, ‘enough is enough’, and the politicians are listening to that, they are sympathetic to that,” he said. “I’m asking for a three-year plan so that we can recover our numbers to 7,000 which is still very much not what we need, but it’s a starting position and it will allow us to keep people safer than we would otherwise be able to do.”.
