The PSNI veers from one serious problem to another. The latest is the Police Ombudsman’s report laying clear the failures of the force in its investigation of Alexander McCartney, who was conducting online blackmail through ‘catfishing’. Lack of resources and an appropriate focus on cybercrimes led to unacceptable investigation delays: faster action should have avoided the suicide of one his victims in the United States, 12 year old Cimarron Thomas.
But under resourcing is not the only challenge for the PSNI – its unlawful surveillance of some journalists has severely damaged its reputation within the media. Meanwhile, there remains an embedded distrust of the organisation across parts of nationalist and republican society. That distrust hinders recruitment from those with Catholic and ethnic minority backgrounds – which in turn reinforces that distrust.
As part of the research for my recently published book ‘A New Ireland – A Five Year Review’, I submitted Freedom of Information requests to the PSNI to determine whether the PSNI was truly a new police service and to what extent it had distanced itself from the RUC past. I find the statistics deeply troubling.
As at the beginning of December last year, 65.97% of serving officers were ‘perceived Protestant’, compared to 32.62% ‘perceived Catholic’. (The backgrounds of 1.41% were not determined.)
While this is bad, the situation regarding civilian staff is far worse. A very concerning 78.75% of PSNI civilians were Protestant, with a mere 18.9% Catholic and 2.35% not determined. Police civilian staff conduct some of the most important roles within administration and investigations. Just 0.69% of police officers and 0.71% of police civilian staff are members of ethnic minorities.
It is not only the composition of officers and staff, but also their prior relationships with the RUC that is deeply troubling. As at September last year, 880 civilian PSN staff (39%) had continued employment from the RUC. The same was true of 524 PSNI officers and 111 part-time reserve officers (10%). These figures understate the situation, as they do not include former RUC officers and civilian staff who left and were then re-employed after the creation of the PSNI.
A further dimension to these concerns is illustrated by memberships of outside bodies. A troubling 132 officers have declared themselves to be freemasons (membership of which is often kept secret). Some 94 officers were members as at September last year of the Orange Order, another 42 of the Royal Black Preceptory and 23 of Apprentice Boys of Derry, as well as smaller numbers who were members of other notifiable bodies. By contrast, a mere one PSNI officer was a declared member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Just as worrying is that PSNI civilian staff are not required to make any such declarations.
In a brief period as an advisor to a Policing Board member, my concerns about imbalance of backgrounds increased substantially, hearing comments made by PSNI officers in private meetings that I found deeply troubling.
Chris Patten’s Independent Commission on Policing, which led to the founding of the PSNI, reported 26 years ago. It noted that “Since 1922 and the establishment of the Royal Ulster Constabulary… the composition of the police has been disproportionately Protestant and Unionist.” The report stressed the need to move to a model of community policing – which in much of the North remains noticeably absent today. “But real community policing is impossible if the composition of the police service bears little relationship to the composition of the community as a whole,” concluded Patten. So not much change there, then.
In much of republican and nationalist society there is quiet anger about the PSNI’s lack of evident success in taking down loyalist paramilitaries and the connected criminal gangs, with a perceived lack of equivalence in relation to republican and loyalist paramilitaries.
This, I suggest, is the right moment for a review – a ‘Patten Two’ – of the PSNI to consider the extent to which it has moved beyond its legacy of the RUC. Such a review should also assess the ability of the Policing Board to hold the PSNI to account. We have yet to arrive at a policing service that has the confidence of our whole society.
- Paul Gosling is author of ‘A New Ireland – A Five Year Review’, published by Colmcille Press