NI police chief warns 300 jobs could be lost over next 12 months

By Michael McHugh, PA

Northern Ireland’s police chief has warned the service is likely to lose 300 officers over the next year.

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne said the force is facing a £23 million funding deficit.

He is bidding for extra cash to avoid cutbacks from April this year.

Mr Byrne said: “It is a stark prospect that we are likely to lose at least 300 officers in the next 12 months.

“If the budget does not balance there is only one real way of closing it, which is losing people.”

He said around 560 officers had fallen ill due to Covid-19.

The force is dealing with the public health emergency, and enforcing social distancing restrictions amid unionist concerns over the end of the Brexit transition period and the Northern Ireland Protocol.

It has received extra money for Brexit-related duties.

The atmosphere around Irish Sea checks is “febrile”, Mr Byrne has added.

He said he would not be able to close the manpower gap using technology alone, which has reduced the amount of time his members have to spend in police stations doing paperwork.

The senior officer told the Policing Board in Belfast: “Inevitably, to be quite candid, if we have got less people doing things then something has to be different.

“We will have to make measured and careful choices about where we continue to invest the £758 million we have got.

“I cannot rule out at the moment that there will be less people gathering intelligence or investigating crime because ultimately we have some tough choices to make.”

The force is keen to preserve its ability to answer 999 emergency calls and mount visible policing operations in areas of community tension.

The PSNI has made a business case for more money to Stormont’s Justice Department and has written to the Justice Committee at the Assembly.

The Executive has been given a flat budget in cash terms by the Treasury to run public services.

Finance Minister Conor Murphy has appealed for greater flexibility from Whitehall.