“It is really positive to see that in the three week application window such a large number of people have expressed an interest in stepping up to serve our communities and keep people safe by becoming a police officer or call handler with the Police Service of Northern Ireland,” he said.
“Throughout the recruitment campaigns, in addition to advertising across traditional social and digital media, we also held a number of outreach and engagement events across Northern Ireland to meet and interact with people who wanted to know about a career in policing,” he said.
The 4,822 total applications to become a student officer indicates a last-minute surge after Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said around 3,500 had applied earlier this month.
Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said applications are “slightly down for student officers”, but noted a “very competitive job market” with the unemployment rate at 1.9%.
He said police are competing for recruitments across a variety of professions, and said other blue light services are also feeling the impact of this.
