Debate contribution: Policing Resources

Debate contribution by Mr Colin McGrath on 9 September 2024.

MLA

Mr Colin McGrath

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

9 September 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Policing Resources

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4511784

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much, Principal Deputy Speaker. It was the hope and intention of the SDLP that, in moving this amendment today, we would try to provide a bit of space for slightly cooler heads to prevail and demonstrate to the public at large, and particularly to the PSNI, that we collectively in here support the work that it does. It has to be a priority for us to have a Police Service that is fit for purpose and has our full support, given the many challenges that it has faced in recent times. Some of the comments that have been made in the debate today may be people's interpretations, rather than necessarily being fully fact-based. The summer recess meant that we did not have the opportunity to address those matters a little bit more quickly, which might have taken some of the heat out of the issues. I reiterate that we should take the opportunity in this debate to show our collective support for the police, and for those officers who work in some of the most difficult situations with resources that are stretched beyond imagination. Of course, I said that we had that opportunity today, but what we have — I will take this opportunity to have one quick Opposition dig — is a four-party Executive in which one party is criticising another one, another party is amending that criticism, one is not supporting any of the criticisms, and a fourth is having to defend itself to everybody. We are only a few hours after the presentation of the Programme for Government, when we were told that youse all work together greatly.

I am delighted to.

I am going to frame that. Thank you very much.

As far back as —.

We will regularly use any influence that we have to get additional funding here to support our public services. I do not think that we can take any more money off our public services. They are as strained as they can be. We have to do all that we can to try to support the public sector in the work that it does. As I was saying, as far back as 1999, the Patten report told us that we needed a Police Service complement of 7,500. At the start of this month, there were only 6,298 officers, which is a reduction of 436. That cutback is most evident in community policing. It is difficult to see that, because that is often the public face of policing. It is an opportunity for the public to engage with officers whom they see regularly. The officers build up a relationship with the community, and it is an opportunity to try to break down some of the barriers that there may have been in the past between policing and some communities. If we are left with just response officers, or, by and large, with response officers, we shift the focus from proactive community policing to reactive policing. Like everyone else in this place, I watched the storm that brewed over the summer. In all honesty, I cannot fathom why the Chief Constable was not allowed to say and do what he did. Did he write an open letter to the newspapers? No. Did he go on to any of our media broadcasters to shine a spotlight on the problem? No. He wrote to the Prime Minister to see whether there was an opportunity for some additional funding for the work that he does. Think about some of the other public bodies that we have. As has been referenced, we have heard from the Housing Executive that there is not enough money for what it does. I think that just about every trust chief executive has been on the airwaves to say that they do not have the funding for the work that they do. I think that every head teacher has said publicly that they do not have the funding to do the work that they do. In this instance, another head of a public organisation was saying that they need to get more money to be able to do the work that they do. Included somewhere in the debate was — when I reflect on all the contributions, I think that it was there — agreement that we all support policing, that we want to see adequate policing here and that what is important is that we should be supporting that today, collectively. I believe that the aim of our amendment was to cool things. I think that it was constructive opposition, and I hope that, on that basis, we might receive cross-party support for it.

776 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:58 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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