In a recent plea to the Government and the Stormont Executive, the head of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, Liam Kelly, condemned their penny-pinching disregard of policing as disgraceful. Speaking at the Federation’s yearly gathering in Co Antrim, he highlighted that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is experiencing the most severe resource crisis since its establishment, cautioning that if there is not immediate action, the police force count will drop to about 6,000.
Kelly pointed out an £80 million shortfall in the PSNI’s budget and indicated that this would necessitate substantial cuts in services. Despite this week’s vote of the Stormont Assembly which supported this year’s budget, previous admonitions from Justice Minister Naomi Long suggested that the proportion assigned to her division would harm services.
The Federation’s chairman asserted their determination to persuade the Government and the Executive to stop their disgraceful betrayal of Northern Ireland’s police service, specially, the PSNI’s brave men and women who are daily risking their lives for society.
Kelly regretfully admitted their misplaced trust in their newly reestablished devolved institutions that have significantly failed to give the police adequate funding and resources. He further argued that stagnation spells catastrophe for the service, indicating that the force is currently in its most intense resource crisis since PSNI was formed in 2001.
Kelly urged Stormont ministers to champion the call for a serious budget in Westminster. He stressed that the gradual erosion must cease and expressed disappointment at the lack of support from their ‘hill-top’ representatives. He urged them to push harder, to acknowledge the decimation of police numbers and the inadequacy of the allocated funds, a fight that he says should be taken to Whitehall and Westminster.
Kelly shared with the conference attendees in Templepatrick that departures from the PSNI could potentially result in a decrease in the force to slightly over 6,000 officers by the end of this year or the current financial year. He warned that this would make effective response virtually unachievable and without affirmative intervention, the policing crisis will persist in deteriorating.
“Having only one law enforcer for every 320 citizens is grossly insufficient to tackle the host of issues we face. This alarming situation, dangerous and negligent, is inflicting severe harm.
The tasks demanded of us are unfeasible and, unfortunately, our co-workers, who are stretched to their limits in particularly challenging conditions, are paying the price. Our funding authorities are blindly walking towards disaster.
Furthermore, Mr Kelly expressed apprehension regarding the recent surge in violence against officers, with 3,346 attacks reported in 2022/23 fiscal year.
“It’s probably graver than we believe, as a proportion of assaults is likely underreported by colleagues,” he opined. “The stats have to mirror the reality so we can throw light on the actual scope of this issue.”
He was glad about Justice Minister Ms Long’s decision to prioritise new sentencing benchmarks for those assaulting police and emergency service personnel.
He concluded: “Robust penalties, including meaningful jail terms, are essential to discourage potential offenders.”