11293 report 19 - CAIN - University of Ulster

size of the police serviceThe Police Service and the Police Rehabilitation and Retraining Trust (PRRT) have initiated andeffectively communicated the available retraining programme to all reservists including thoseseparating under the voluntary severance scheme and those separating because of the reductionof the full-time reserve staffing (not eligible for the severance scheme).Remaining Areas of ConcernThe Independent Commission did not recommend a voluntary severance scheme for civilianpolice employees, noting available early retirement, relocation payments and other availableinducements. It did recommend, however, development of outplacement services for civilianemployees. While the Police Service has developed a comprehensive outplacement programmefor separating police officers and reservists, it has not addressed such a programme for separatingcivilian employees .B. Recommendation SummaryRecommendation 105: Future Size of the Police ServicePatten Recommendation:105. Provided the peace process does not collapse and the security situation does not deterioratesignificantly from the situation pertaining at present, the approximate size of the policeservice over the next ten years should be 7,500 full time officers.Lead Responsibility: NIO/Chief Constable/Policing BoardRecommendation StatusCompliance with this recommendation has been achieved.HistoryThe Independent Commission projected that by 2007 the Police Service should achieve the goalof 7,500 regular police officers, starting from a 1999 base year with 8,457 regular police officersand 2,935 Full Time Reserve members. The Police Service achieved this goal of 7,500 regularpolice officers in March of 2004, several years ahead of schedule. However, there still remain over700 FTR members.The recruiting effort for new police officers includes the appointment of anequal number of Catholic and other than Catholic recruits for each recruit class. The recruitingeffort, administered by Consensia Partnership, is considered very successful and exceeds thegeneral expectations.133