Only 30% of PSNI job applicants Catholic background; 66% Protestant community

The three-week campaign took place during November, receiving a total of 5,311 applicants for student police officer positions.

The number is a big decrease compared to last year’s 6,879 applicants.

Out of the applicants, 30% (1,590) of them came from the Catholic community, a drop of 526 applicants compared to last year, with 66.5% (3,534) coming from the Protestant community, which is also a big drop of 986 applicants this year compared to last year.

The breakdown in per centage of applicants from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds has however remained roughly the same across five recruitment campaigns stretching back as far as 2013.

With a growth in female police officer applicants over recent years, this year seen a total of 2,130 (40.1%) women apply for the campaign. However, despite the growth in recent years, this was still 641 less than the number of female applicants last year.

The numbers show that just 2.3% (122) of the applicants were from an ethnic minority background, which is 74 people fewer than last year, although again the per centage of the overall total is similar. A total of 400 (7.5%) applicants were from applicants who are LGBT, a drop of 96 compared to last years applicants.

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne, however, said he is encouraged by the level of applicants, saying that “it demonstrates that policing is a career of choice in Northern Ireland”.

The figures were revealed at an accountability meeting with the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

“We are planning to recruit 400 additional police officers in the coming year. This is necessary to maintain officer numbers at 7,100.

“This is dependent on securing sufficient funding in the new budget. Without this, planned recruitment throughout the year will not be possible and police numbers will fall,” Chief Constable Byrne continued.

The Chief Constable also provided an update on progress in tackling serious and organised crime over the last quarter. During this period, the activities of nearly 80 criminal gangs were significantly disrupted by police, with one gang totally dismantled, the board was told.

The Paramilitary Crime Task Force (PCTF) conducted 41 searches which included 14 drug seizures. As a result of Operation Dealbreaker, there were 55 arrests for alleged drug-related offences and 317 drug seizures, amounting to a collective street value, the board was told, of £1,348,418.95 by November.

Mr Byrne said: “Working closely with local communities and partners, we have made real and significant progress in the last few months in tackling serious and organised crime which is a blight that impacts all communities across NI.”