Member's statement: PSNI Recruitment
Member's statement by Mr Keith Buchanan on .
- MLA
- Mr Keith Buchanan
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 10 February 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- PSNI Recruitment
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5435180
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I welcome the opportunity to address an issue that is central to public confidence, community safety and the long-term stability of policing in Northern Ireland: the urgent need to restore and strengthen police recruitment and our collective responsibility in that. I am a member of the Policing Board. At many Policing Board meetings, concerns are raised about the decline in officer numbers and the pressure that that places on the PSNI. Those concerns reflect what communities across Northern Ireland already know: our police service is being stretched beyond what is sustainable. We want to build a society in which people feel safe in their homes, confident in their communities and supported by a visible, responsive and representative police service. Every section of society and every political representative in the Chamber has a responsibility to encourage and support recruitment into the PSNI. We cannot call for better policing while failing to promote policing as a respected, viable and valued career. We cannot demand improved response times, greater neighbourhood visibility or enhanced community engagement if we are not prepared to champion the very people who deliver those services. The deadline for recruitment passed last Wednesday. In past recruitment campaigns, including those in my constituency of Mid Ulster, the number of applications has remained lower than average. That should concern every one of us. If we want a police service that is representative, resilient and rooted in the communities that it serves, those communities must feel encouraged and supported to step forward. Let me be absolutely clear: encouragement cannot be left solely to local officers or neighbourhood policing teams, because they already carry enough on their shoulders. The responsibility belongs to us all: community leaders, public representatives and politicians. I have done my part. I have used social media, community forums and my public engagements to say openly and without hesitation that I support the PSNI and encourage young people in Mid Ulster and further afield to consider a career in policing, but I must ask this: where is the leadership from other political representatives across Northern Ireland? Where are their social media posts, their statements and their public encouragement? Where is their willingness to stand up and say clearly and confidently that policing is a noble profession of which the community should be part? Their voices are silent. Leaving the burden of promoting recruitment to local officers certainly is not leadership. If we want to see change, we must all be prepared to stand up, speak out and actively promote policing as a valued and vital profession. If we want a safe, stable and confident Northern Ireland, we must invest in the people who protect it. That means predictable, long-term recruitment and ensuring that policing remains an attractive career. It means each of us using our voice and our platform to encourage that, and not all of us in the Chamber are doing that.
482 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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