Ulster Unionist Policing spokesperson, Mike Nesbitt MLA, has expressed disappointment that the new draft three-year budget comes up well short of delivering the 7,500 headcount promised for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Finance Minister Conor Murphy MLA has allocated an additional £14.8 million per year over the period 2022-2025, but that £44.4 million total is some £30.2 million short of what is needed to raise the number of officers to the 7,500 mark recommended by Chris Patten in his review of policing 20 years ago.

Mike Nesbitt said:

“I asked the PSNI some time ago to quantify the budgets needed to raise headcount from the current 7,000 officers. The answer was in three parts. To maintain current numbers, allowing for officers leaving through retirement and other reasons needs £1.4 million over the three years in question. Recruitment and training additional officers will cost some £5 million, and funding those new posts over 2022-2025 is an additional £68.25 million.

“That's almost £75 million in total, £30 million more than is being allocated. I shall be writing to the Chief Constable for his assessment of where that leaves the Service in terms of how many additional officers they can afford to recruit and the implications, especially for neighbourhood policing, which must be at the heart of the PSNI's activity."