FUNDING pressures and the decline in numbers of PSNI officers puts the communities the police force serves at risk a new report has found.
An inspection into the force, conducted by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue services (HMICFRS), found the service “adequate” in preventing and deterring crime, antisocial behaviour and vulnerability, but said it “requires improvement” in managing offenders and suspects.
Released this week, the report further revealed that the PSNI’s child internet protection team “doesn’t have enough personnel so can’t effectively manage its high workloads”.
“As a result of this, it can’t manage the number of referrals it receives from the National Crime Agency,” the report added.
Financial pressures on the police force are highlighted among the causes of some of the issues it faces.
”I have concerns about the performance of the service in keeping people safe, preventing crime and providing victims with an effective service,” Inspector of Constabulary Lee Freeman said.
“The service’s leaders told us they valued, and recognised the importance of, neighbourhood policing.
“But in our inspection, we found the current resourcing picture is stark. The service often took neighbourhood officers away from their core roles to cover response and other policing duties.”
He added: “The service must improve how it manages the risk posed by violent and sexual offenders. It must also make sure that it shares safeguarding information promptly with health and social care trusts.
“During this inspection, we found a worrying lack of adequate support for officers who managed violent and sexual offenders or investigated offences involving children.
“It needs to provide child abuse investigators and offender managers with more psychological support.
“However, the continued financial pressures facing the service, if unresolved, are likely to further affect the service it can provide.
“The chief constable, his officers and staff are clearly determined to provide a high-quality service and to secure the trust and confidence of all communities.
“The financial pressures mean, however, that the service is currently limited in what it is able to achieve.”
Responding to the findings, Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister Naomi Long confirmed that she was committed to “recovering workforce levels to 7,000 officers and 2,572 staff within the next three years”.
“By keeping communities safe we enable them to have the confidence they need to live productively and engage fully in society,” she added.
The PSNI’s Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said he hopes the findings will be the “wake up call” the Government needs to better fund the police force.
“The findings of this report are undoubtedly disappointing, but they are not a surprise,” he said.
“They reflect the warnings that the Chief Constable has been issuing for some time now.
“Hopefully this report will achieve what thus far our lobbying has failed to do, and will be the wake up call to properly fund the PSNI."
He added: “The Inspectorate findings are sadly evidence of what we have been repeatedly warning for some time – namely that less police inevitably leads to less policing and a greater risk of threat and harm to the public.
"This report sets out the very real impact that chronic underfunding is having on our ability to protect the public.
"At each Policing Board accountability meeting the Chief Constable has set out the consequences of allowing the PSNI to fall to our lowest numbers, dangerously below the numbers required by the Patten Commission.
"This underinvestment cannot continue.”
See More: Inspection, PSNI, Report
