PSNI can increase Catholic recruits without return to 50:50, says Jon Boutcher

The PSNI “doesn’t need” 50:50 recruitment targets to increase the number of Catholics in the force, the Chief Constable has said.

Jon Boutcher told the policing board there is a “collective responsibility” in improving representation in the police, but accepted the PSNI “need to do a lot more”.

Figures released by the PSNI following their last recruitment drive 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% from a Protestant background, 26.7% from a Catholic background and 7.7% undetermined.

The Patten Report was the 1999 policing review that created the PSNI and introduced the 50:50 recruitment initiative, meaning between 2001 and 2011, there was one Catholic recruit for every one person from a Protestant or other background.

Mr Boutcher said on Thursday he was “delighted” by the response to their recruitment campaign and the larger intake”.

He said: “We must explore how to collectively increase the number of applicants from all of those groups currently underrepresented in the PSNI.

“There are clear challenges facing some of those considering a career in policing.

“We need to see open, constructive conversations about how we overcome any barriers that dissuade people interested in policing as a career and joining. This is a collective responsibility.”

The Chief Constable quoted the Patten Report, stating “all community leaders, all political leaders, all local councillors, bishops, priests, school teachers and sports authorities should work to prevent the discouragement that exists with regards to joining the police and should actively encourage people to join the police service”.

He said: “I don’t think any of us over the last 25 years can probably say as a society, that has happened in the way that it should have happened.

“That’s why this anniversary year, I’m determined that we will have this debate.

“We have got to address, what has always been in 25 years, either just above or just below 30% applicants from the nationalist Catholic background.

“That’s the number, whether you’ve got 50:50, or not.”

SDLP MLA Colin McGrath, a political representative on the board, said that he felt that the idea of reintroducing 50:50 had been knocked “back a bit quick” when discussed at the last meeting and the police should not “lock such an option out without giving it some more thought”.

DUP MLA Trevor Clarke said the last recruitment campaign was “one of the best that the police have conducted”, adding “if the political leaders don’t get behind recruitment campaigns and endorse this as a career for policing then it’ll never work”.

In his reply the Chief Constable said: “I always say it’s a stock answer for me, nothing’s ever off the table, but I don’t think we need 50:50 if we do what I’ve just been describing.

“I think we will see the increase in numbers, and it’s a point I say this, not just from the nationalist Catholic community, but from new and emerging communities.

“And some of the data on that’s very positive, actually, but there are a number of different cohorts, and we talk about young working class Protestants applying for the organisation, where we need to do better.

“I think if we do apply ourselves properly, all of us, then I think we would not need 50:50, but I always say nothing is off the table.”

Sinn Fein MLA Deirdre Hargey said “we do all have a role and a responsibility” but there were additional barriers for people from nationalist backgrounds including “a lack of cultural understanding” in the police as well as Troubles legacy issues.

Mr Boutcher said he’s “raised every one of those issues, all of that”.

He did highlight that some Catholic recruits to the force “have to consider the dissident Republican threat against them and “feel that nothing has really changed with regards to societal support for policing”.

Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly later said 50:50 recruitment could change the force’s demographic “substantially”, and “it is people doing the things people need to do, as opposed to the politicians needing to make a statement” that will improve numbers of Catholics.

The Chief Constable replied: “I spent Christmas, New Year, re-reading the Patten report, and I came back and said to the team, ‘we’re just not doing enough’.

“We’re not doing enough to try to shift these percentages across a number of different communities, but very relevant for the nationalist Catholic community, so there is a real acceptance that we need to do a lot more.”