Debate contribution: Policing Resources
Debate contribution by Mr Alan Chambers on .
- MLA
- Mr Alan Chambers
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 25 November 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Opposition Business
- Heading
- Policing Resources
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5259245
Read the official Assembly record
Text
There is an old cautionary saying: you get what you pay for. The motion highlights the fact that the PSNI did not have the capacity or available resource to manage the risk posed by a child sex offender in a recent, high-profile case that had hundreds of victims across the world and led to a young girl in America tragically taking her own life due to the activities of a twisted and evil member of our society. We complain about the lack of police officers, and we watch as the Chief Constable tries his best to secure the budget that he needs to properly police Northern Ireland by breaking many established administrative conventions and processes to achieve his goal. I admire his tenacity but feel that the Assembly has failed him and his officers. As per my opening sentence, we are getting exactly what we have paid for: a police service that is so underfunded and, consequently, seriously under-resourced that many serious crimes will not be investigated or solved in the target timescale that the PSNI would like to meet. The Patten report on policing, written 25 years ago, recommended 7,500 full-time officers and 2,500 part-time and locally recruited reservists. The reserve element has just been ignored and is never mentioned in current debates. As a proud member of the part-time RUC Reserve, I saw at first hand the added value to local community policing provided by my Reserve colleagues. The current figure of 6,200 PSNI officers is an indictment of the House and the Executive: nothing more is being done to address the situation. Hollow words and empathy just do not cut it. Of those officers, 1,000 are on restricted duties and not on the front line, and between 500 and 800 are off duty due to sickness, injuries and stress on a daily basis. That leaves the Chief Constable with 4,500 officers available for duty, with shifts, rest days and leave reducing the number of officers on the ground even further. That is an appalling and unacceptable situation. The call in the motion and in my party's amendment for the Justice Minister to set out her plans to urgently address the resource shortfall are timely and entirely valid. Unless action is seen to be happening in that regard, retention figures will continue to fall. In relation to amendment No 2, I share Trevor Clarke's concern that it strays — at least, there is a perception of it straying — into operational matters. In the meantime, let the House and the Executive hold this thought: you get what you pay for.
432 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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