NI riots: Does the PSNI have the resources to deal with disorder?
The disorder comes at a time of crisis for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Its chief constable, Jon Boutcher, has issued repeated warnings about it being "critically underfunded", leaving it with the lowest number of officers in its history.It currently has 6,200 officers – compared to more than 9,000 when it was established in 2001, and various official reports have recommended it should have at least 7,500 officers.There have been many political commitments to achieving this, but it has not been acted upon given the constant pressures on public spending.To make matters worse, around 1,500 officers are either on sickness absence or restricted duties away from frontline policing.
Policing is devolved in Northern Ireland, with the PSNI primarily funded by Stormont's Department of Justice (DoJ) to the tune of £800m or more per year.It also receives about £40m annually from the Northern Ireland Office to deal with terrorism and paramilitaries.But the local administration has for many years given greater spending priority to areas such as health and education.To this end, Mr Boutcher has stated policing has suffered a "real term" cut of 29% since 2010.
Mutual aid a 'short-term fix'
He has been critical of politicians and received a written reprimand from the DoJ for making a direct approach to the Prime Minister about the PSNI's budget.Officers who leave or retire have not been replaced and a £200m emergency recovery plan, aiming to lift numbers to 7,000 by 2028, is in limbo.The PSNI has been told the money is not currently available.It is no surprise the PSNI has had to issue an SOS for short-term reinforcements from GB forces.Just as it did last summer during racially-motivated street violence, it has requested 80 officers under mutual aid arrangements, which it must pay for.Police Scotland is one of the organisations which has answered the call.The PSNI is already calculating the cost of policing successive nights of unrest – it could run to more than £3m.It is money it does not have and it will require Stormont to find it from another department.The GB officers, who are trained to deal with rioting, will plug some gaps.It is a short-term fix.Mr Boutcher believes repairing the PSNI requires more decisive action – either extra cash from London, or Stormont moving policing up the spending ladder.He will hope the current unrest concentrates minds.
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