PFNI chair: Executive and government ‘washing their hands of policing’
The chair of the Police Federation of Northern Ireland (PFNI) is accusing the Government and the Executive of “washing their hands of policing” and says the Recovery Plan to build back to 7,000 officers “has effectively evaporated”.
Speaking to delegates at the Federation’s annual conference in Belfast, Liam Kelly said London was playing a dangerous game of ‘pass the parcel’ while local ministers were incapable of taking the fight to the seat of government.
Mr Kelly said: “Devolution was meant to be a boost, a better way of delivering accountable government.
“In our experience, instead of being a positive step, it has been disastrous.
“We have London and Belfast passing the parcel of blame in a game of unedifying brinkmanship.
“We have Belfast complaining of insufficient financial resources. The police budget is squeezed where continued constrained one-year financial settlements are an obvious barrier to forward-planning.
“Despite the promise of ring-fenced funding, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Recovery Plan, which should have delivered an increase to 7,000 officers by April 2028, is in grave doubt.
“By April 2026, the end of year 1 of the Recovery Plan, we were supposed to grow by 150 officers so we would have 6,500 in service.
“Despite the belated funding we’re currently at 6,315 – 35 officers less than where the original baseline was drawn in 2025.”
Mr Kelly said on average, the PSNI conservatively loses around 350 officers a year, so recruitment would have to be in the region of 800 officers to just catch up.
“Let’s be honest – that is now simply not going to happen. Even with the best will in the world, the knock-on effect to get to 7,000 officers by April 2028 has effectively evaporated,” he said.
“We’re not crying wolf or scaremongering. We’re being straight with our political masters and the general public and it’s a crisis that has to be acknowledged and fixed.
“We’re facing stagnation caused by intolerable pressures. This is having a shocking and corrosive effect on our men and women who are working over and above what’s required to keep the show on the road.”
Mr Klly added: “They can only do so much with a Service that is creaking under the weight of political indifference. The time for intervention is now.”
In his keynote address, Mr Kelly also talked about assaults on officers; the drag of legacy cases; 50/50 recruitment and the level of change that has shaped policing since the inception of the PSNI 25 years ago.
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