PSNI at 25: How representative is the force?
6 minutes ago
Julian O'Neill
Crime and justice correspondent, BBC News NI
Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton was at a book launch in Belfast recently when he was asked: "Which Blue Lights character would you like on your team?"
For those who don't know, Blue Lights is anacclaimed BBC drama about officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
His answer was quite revealing: "Annie and Grace because we need to be more representative of the Catholic community and we need more women."
Singleton joined the PSNI at its inception in 2001 and knows the issues as well as anyone.
Twenty-five years ago, when the PSNI was created out of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), it had almost 7,200 full-time officers.
Only 600, or eight percent of them, were Catholics.
By 2011, a decade later, that figure had almost quadrupled to approximately 2,200 (30%).
That improvement was driven bya 50:50 recruitment policywhich existed between 2001 and 2011, with the aim of making the PSNI more reflective of society than the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).
Today that figure is nearer 2,000, or 31%, of a service consisting of approximately 6,400 officers.
(Bear in mind there have been fluctuations in the size of the PSNI throughout its 25 years.)
"We've made really good progress," said Singleton, before adding: "There's more to do."
That acknowledges two things.
Firstly, that 31% is well below the 46% of the population who identify as, or were raised as Catholic,at the last census in 2021.
Secondly, in 2024, the percentage of Catholic officers began falling back as opposed to standing still or making small advancements.
There is a sense things have stalled.
How many women are in the PSNI?
Improving the number of women in the PSNI has not required legislative intervention.
In November 2001, there were around 900 women (15%) compared to 6,200 men.
After a decade, that imbalance was nowhere near as stark: 5,200 men and 1,900 women.
Today there are around 2,100 women in its ranks (33%) and 4,300 men.
More recently, as Northern Ireland society changes, more attention is being paid to ethnicity.
Progress, if it can be classed as that, has been minimal across 25 years.
According to the latest published PSNI data, there are just 55 officers (0.86%) from an ethnic minority background.
Last year, a PSNI job advert which featured an officer from an ethnic community attractedracist posts on social media.
