PSNI Chief Constable reacts to calls for 50:50 initiative to be reinstated

By Bairbre Holmes, Press Association

The number of officers in the PSNI from a Catholic background “isn’t good enough”, the forces’ Chief Constable has said.

Jon Boutcher was speaking to the media at a cross-border conference on organised and serious crime on Monday.

Asked if the PSNI should reinstate the 50:50 recruitment initiative, which was in place between 2001 and 2011, he said he wants to use the organisation’s 25th anniversary to “have a proper debate about recruitment policy”.

Figures released by the PSNI last month showed that the percentage of new Catholic applicants to join the force was at its lowest in more than a decade.

Police said more than 4,000 people had applied for their latest student officer recruitment campaign, with 65.6 per cent from a Protestant background, 26.7 per cent from a Catholic background and 7.7 per cent undetermined.

Last week, Sinn Féin said the removal of the 50:50 policy, which saw was one Catholic recruit for every one person from a Protestant or other background, had a “negative impact” on the number of Catholic recruits in policing.

On Monday Mr Boutcher said: “Everyone in our communities, all community leaders, all political leaders, all local councillors, priests, bishops, teachers, police sports authorities, should all work to stop those people discouraging people joining the police service.

“In fact, they should actively work to encourage people to join the police service.”

He said while “some people do a huge amount of work to support police” there have been attempts to disrupt recruitment initiatives.

Mr Boutcher said the PSNI had to recently withdraw from a recruitment fair at a school because of a bomb threat that was made and that “dissident Republicans” have made threats to schools he has planned on visiting.

“We’ve got to address the concerns that people have, legitimate concerns, of dissident Republican threats.

“We’ve got to address the issue in society that people want to join the police from a nationalist background, and they tell me this, sometimes they’re ostracised by their friends, they have to move house.

“That’s not a normal society.”