Doug Beattie accuses Justice Minister Naomi Long of ‘not fighting for PSNI’ and dragging Chief Constable into politics

Doug Beattie also hit out at the Alliance justice minister, saying the funding of the PSNI is not an 'operational issue' and accusing her of “casting them [police] adrift with a budget to tell them to 'get on with it’ isn't good enough".

The justice minister has been contacted for comment.

On Friday, the Chief Constable wrote to the prime minister highlighting an “increased” health budget while arguing that the PSNI’s has “remained effectively flat and still below the budget in 2010”.

Mr Boutcher contrasted this with a 20% uplift in funding for police in England and Wales – and 25% for An Garda Siochana, between 2010 and 2022.

He argued that the financial situation is resulting in neighbourhood policing teams and the PSNI’s public order capacity being reduced.

The PSNI boss told Sir Keir Starmer that Tactical Support groups have “reduced from 13 – 11” and that there is a “reduced capacity to mobilise PSU support”.

“I am especially concerned about the resilience of the PSNI to deal with any long term disorder and have no funds to pay for the additional costs of policing the violence that has recently erupted in Belfast”, the letter stated.

Mr Beattie responded to the letter with praise for the Chief Constable – but claimed that he was being dragged into the political arena because of a failure of the justice minister to fight effectively for additional money for the service.

The UUP leader said: “In 2023 the Police Service of Northern Ireland was in crises because its rank and file, along with senior officers, had lost confidence in their Chief Constable. That was addressed with a replacement Chief Constable in the form of Jon Boucher, a straight talking and, dare I say it, charismatic policeman.

“There was also considerable concern regarding the Policing Board which still has not been addressed. Indeed, the core issue that led to both the undermining of the then Chief Constable - Simon Burns - and the Policing Board has not been dealt with.

“Roll onto 2024 and again we have a crisis in our police service. This crisis is around resource, staffing and political support.

The headline is that our police, which should be sitting at 7,500 officers according to the Patton Review of Policing, is actually sitting at 6,300 officers.

“Yet that doesn’t tell the whole story because from that 6,300 you need to remove those on long-term or short-term sick, those on maternity leave and those either assigned to an important desk job or are close to retirement.

"The available ‘officers on the beat’ figure is likely to be below 6,000. This creates an unbearable pressure on the force and on individual officers who are asked to do more with less.

“This hasn't just happened. Of course, the justice minister has argued for more resource for her department and have not received it, but successive ministers have not argued for pointed police resource.

"The justice minister is simply not fighting the corner for the police, highlighting the day to day challenges, which means the present Chief Constable has to slip into the political arena far more than he would want to.

“Resourcing the PSNI is not an 'operational issue', it is a 'strategic issue' and casting them adrift with a budget to tell them to 'get on with it' isn't good enough.

"It's akin to the health minister telling the health trusts to 'get on with it' when they knew the budget wouldn't allow them to do just that.

"Hence under both Robin Swann and Mike Nesbitt, the Ulster Unionist Party have said we cannot support the present budget.

“I was recently asked if the Chief Constable should overspend in order to recruit more officers and my response was that he had no choice. I stand by that statement because our depleted police service cannot continue without a strategic review and a rapid upload of resource. It cannot be taken for granted any more.

“This is not about operational policing, it about strategic policing outcomes. If politicians in Northern Ireland are not willing to stand up and address this then we cannot complain when our Chief Constable grabs the nettle and delves into the political arena to save the force he commands.

“This is a line in the sand for policing in Northern Ireland, we need fundamental change, including direct support from the Home Office.

"The recent riots, with paramilitary influence, combined with ongoing republican terrorism are without a doubt a threat to national security and our police are on the front line of that threat.

"They need support and they need resourced if we, as a society, are to turn this around”.