SDLP: Patten scheme causing shortfall in detectives
Senior police in the North are today facing a shortfall of 107 detectives.
Investigators were released prematurely under the Patten severance scheme designed to bring in new blood and there have been changes to the police’s structure calling for extra resources, the SDLP said today.
Police Service of Northern Ireland chiefs are suspending 50/50 recruitment of Catholic and Protestant plain clothes police for two years and will now advertise outside the North.
Nationalist SDLP member Alex Attwood said: “This isn’t a problem with Patten or severance per se, it is about management of it.
“Because the board and the police have invested time in creating new crime teams the numbers needed increases because of that and there are also increased expectations when it comes to dealing with crime.
“This increase is because we are making the police service more efficient and because too many of them were let go too early.”
This is the second time in recent years the step has been taken. In July 2003 parts of the Patten provisions were suspended allowing detectives to be recruited from elsewhere.
The Patten Report was introduced in 1999 and recommended sweeping changes to the then Royal Ulster Constabulary.
It led to the renaming of the service and created a redundancy package for senior ranks designed to pave the way for younger officers.
Chris Patten and his team called for the reduction of police numbers to 7,500 and the redress of the religious imbalance among members of the largely Protestant force.
Section 23 of the Police Act 2003 will have to be enabled in Westminster to allow recruitment to start and this isn’t expected before next year.
The scheme will run for two years after the move was agreed by the Policing Board decision-making body last Wednesday.
A board spokeswoman said: “At its monthly meeting board members agreed in principle a package of measures presented by PSNI to help achieve the full complement of detectives in the PSNI’s Crime Operations Department. This included the recruitment of experienced detectives from other police services.
“The agreement in principle by the board to the recruitment of detectives from other services is subject to the re-enactment of the provisions of Section 23 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2003 amended the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000.”
Other measures to be taken include an internal trawl from the uniformed ranks.
Chief Constable Hugh Orde told last week’s meeting that the nature of detective work, with its dangers and media profile as well as threat of Police Ombudsman investigation, made it more difficult to recruit.
Unionists have strongly criticised the reduction in police numbers and the loss of experienced officers and detectives.
Democratic Unionist Board member Willie Hay said: “If you speak to detectives in the service from the top to the bottom they would say that Patten is a major issue.
“Severance caused a lot of good detectives and many senior officers to go who had a lot of experience.
“I think what was agreed gives people an opportunity, particularly those who have left Northern Ireland.”
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