11293 report 19 - CAIN - University of Ulster

A. Chapter SummaryBackgroundIn 1999 the Independent Commission reported that the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) serveda population of 1.675 million and was comprised of nearly 13,000 regular, full time reserve andpart-time reserve police officers, plus over 3,000 civilian employees. This size of the police servicefar exceeded the staffing set out in a Home Office model of comparable geographical areas andpopulation, which calls for a police service of about 4,300 officers and 1,700 civilians.The Independent Commission recommended that the number of police officers could besubstantially reduced if Northern Ireland became a more peaceful society consistent with theintent of the Peace Agreement. Considering the current and anticipated security situation and thelevel of crime observed post-Agreement, along with the several recommendations it made withregards to the role, style, and structure of the police service, the Indepdent Commissionrecommended that the number of police officers be reduced to 7,500 over a ten-year period.This total number was to be distributed as follows: 4,500 officers assigned to core policing duties,2,000 officers performing security and public order responsibilities, and 1,000 officers assigned to“other” duties. The Independent Commission called for this reduction to be accomplishedthrough a severance plan for both regular and full-time reserve officers and the elimination of fulltimereservists. Re-training and support of the departing officers was a key recommendation. Italso recommended the encouragement of employment opportunities for Full Time Reserves(FTRs) with police agencies in Great Britain and in United Nations peacekeeping operations.Progress and AccomplishmentsThe NIO and Police Service successfully implemented the recommendations with regard tooffering voluntary early retirement or severance to eligible regular police officers and reservemembers. The severance scheme accomplished its objective of reducing the size of the PoliceService to 7,500 officers, while creating vacancies that allowed for the recruitment of an equalnumber of Catholic and other than Catholic police officers. Although the IndependentCommission projected that by 2007 the Police Service should achieve the goal of 7,500 regularpolice officers, in fact this goal was achieved by March 2004, well ahead of schedule. TheIndependent Commission also recommended the elimination of FTRs which has not beenaccomplished. A recent report released by the HMIC recommended that the size of the PoliceService could be further reduced to 6,028 police officers. 1The Voluntary Severance Support Unit (VSSU) successfully implemented a comprehensiveoutplacement programme to provide retraining for police officers and reservists seeking otheremployment. The retraining programme is described in policies and booklets that are madeavailable to eligible regular and reserve officers. The VSSU also provides outplacement servicesthat included advice on pensions, financial advice, career counselling, job opportunities, andassistance with related matters.132120 : 20 Vision - A Value for Money Establishment Review of the PSNI Post 2010/11, www.nio.gov.uk