Menu
11/04/2008
Top Cop Regrets Shankill 'Boycott'
The PSNI has failed to recruit a single member from the loyalist heartland of west Belfast's Shankill Road in over five years.
Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Orde said: "It's a sad fact that we are not getting an awful lot of working class Protestant kids aspiring to join policing - it's simply a fact," he said, speaking after a breakfast meeting in Dublin organised by the Public Relations Institute of Ireland.
The news has prompted a call for the police service to immediately ditch its controversial 50/50 recruitment policy, a local MP, Gregory Campbell said: "There should be people from this community in the police - just as in the past nationalists have said that it is a difficult concept to have people enforcing the rule of law in a community that none of the them come from, that is equally true now - we must have working class people in the police force just as you must have people from working class Catholic areas."
The DUP MP spoke out after PSNI chief revealed that the force had not recruited a single person from the loyalist Shankill area since he took control more than five years ago.
Mr Campbell said that Protestant representation in the police will drop to unacceptable levels unless 50/50 is abandoned immediately.
He believes that Unionists fear that if working class Protestants stop applying, and the Protestant middle classes find it difficult to get in because of 50/50, a Catholic majority will emerge in the force.
This would mean that the historic imbalance in religious breakdown of the police towards Catholics will be replaced by an imbalance towards Protestants.
But Sir Hugh said yesterday that problems recruiting from those communities stretched back at least as far as his appointment as Chief Constable in 2002.
"I don't think I have recruited yet one new officer from the Shankill Road into the new Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)," he said.
The top officer said there was a huge, ongoing effort by the PSNI to restore its attractiveness as a career option in some unionist estates.
"Now is that a function of their own aspirations? Possibly. Is it perhaps a kick-back from some of the serious disorder in 2005? Possibly."
He added: "It is interesting that I now have more police officers from the west of the [River] Bann than I do from the Shankill Road."
Latest figures show that Catholics now make up almost 24% of full time police officers - nearly three times the 8% Catholic representation just 10 years ago.
NIO Security Minister Paul Goggins said the PSNI was in line to meet a target of 30% Catholic officers by 2010/2011 and when that happens the 50/50 recruitment policy - that half of all new recruits are drawn from a Catholic background - would be scrapped.
(BMcC)
Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Orde said: "It's a sad fact that we are not getting an awful lot of working class Protestant kids aspiring to join policing - it's simply a fact," he said, speaking after a breakfast meeting in Dublin organised by the Public Relations Institute of Ireland.
The news has prompted a call for the police service to immediately ditch its controversial 50/50 recruitment policy, a local MP, Gregory Campbell said: "There should be people from this community in the police - just as in the past nationalists have said that it is a difficult concept to have people enforcing the rule of law in a community that none of the them come from, that is equally true now - we must have working class people in the police force just as you must have people from working class Catholic areas."
The DUP MP spoke out after PSNI chief revealed that the force had not recruited a single person from the loyalist Shankill area since he took control more than five years ago.
Mr Campbell said that Protestant representation in the police will drop to unacceptable levels unless 50/50 is abandoned immediately.
He believes that Unionists fear that if working class Protestants stop applying, and the Protestant middle classes find it difficult to get in because of 50/50, a Catholic majority will emerge in the force.
This would mean that the historic imbalance in religious breakdown of the police towards Catholics will be replaced by an imbalance towards Protestants.
But Sir Hugh said yesterday that problems recruiting from those communities stretched back at least as far as his appointment as Chief Constable in 2002.
"I don't think I have recruited yet one new officer from the Shankill Road into the new Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)," he said.
The top officer said there was a huge, ongoing effort by the PSNI to restore its attractiveness as a career option in some unionist estates.
"Now is that a function of their own aspirations? Possibly. Is it perhaps a kick-back from some of the serious disorder in 2005? Possibly."
He added: "It is interesting that I now have more police officers from the west of the [River] Bann than I do from the Shankill Road."
Latest figures show that Catholics now make up almost 24% of full time police officers - nearly three times the 8% Catholic representation just 10 years ago.
NIO Security Minister Paul Goggins said the PSNI was in line to meet a target of 30% Catholic officers by 2010/2011 and when that happens the 50/50 recruitment policy - that half of all new recruits are drawn from a Catholic background - would be scrapped.
(BMcC)
Related Northern Ireland News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.
23 June 2016
Police Officers Disciplined For Failing To Tell Doctor About Woman's Head Injuries
Two police officers have been disciplined after they failed to let their colleagues and a police doctor know that a woman had sustained a head injury, a Police Ombudsman investigation has concluded. The woman died from bleeding to the brain on 24 February 2014, the day after she suffered the injury.
Police Officers Disciplined For Failing To Tell Doctor About Woman's Head Injuries
Two police officers have been disciplined after they failed to let their colleagues and a police doctor know that a woman had sustained a head injury, a Police Ombudsman investigation has concluded. The woman died from bleeding to the brain on 24 February 2014, the day after she suffered the injury.
28 March 2007
House of Lords vote for ‘50/50’ police force
The House of Lords has renewed the 50/50 recruitment rule for the PSNI by a majority of 44. It puts into practice a recommendation made in 1999 by Lord Patten that the local police force should be split evenly between Catholics and Protestants. The result of the vote was 141 to 97.
House of Lords vote for ‘50/50’ police force
The House of Lords has renewed the 50/50 recruitment rule for the PSNI by a majority of 44. It puts into practice a recommendation made in 1999 by Lord Patten that the local police force should be split evenly between Catholics and Protestants. The result of the vote was 141 to 97.
02 April 2008
Senior Catholic Police Officer To Step Down
Northern Ireland's most senior Catholic police officer is to step down from his post as Assistant Chief Constable of the PSNI, it has been revealed. Peter Sheridan, who started his career as a cadet in the RUC over 30 years ago, will join the cross-border group Co-operation Ireland. He will take up the post in September.
Senior Catholic Police Officer To Step Down
Northern Ireland's most senior Catholic police officer is to step down from his post as Assistant Chief Constable of the PSNI, it has been revealed. Peter Sheridan, who started his career as a cadet in the RUC over 30 years ago, will join the cross-border group Co-operation Ireland. He will take up the post in September.
19 March 2003
NI people unlikely to be victims of crime says survey
Most people in Northern Ireland thought that crime last year was uncommon in their area and that they were unlikely to be victims of crime, according to new survey results.
NI people unlikely to be victims of crime says survey
Most people in Northern Ireland thought that crime last year was uncommon in their area and that they were unlikely to be victims of crime, according to new survey results.
03 September 2001
Protest outside Belfast primary school leads to clashes with police
Police and army have mounted an operation to prevent Protestant protesters blocking an entrance to a Catholic primary school in Belfast.
Protest outside Belfast primary school leads to clashes with police
Police and army have mounted an operation to prevent Protestant protesters blocking an entrance to a Catholic primary school in Belfast.
-
Northern Ireland WeatherToday:A chilly start with a widespread frost and some freezing fog, any freezing fog slow to clear. Otherwise bright with sunny spells and coastal showers. Light winds. Maximum temperature 6 °C.Tonight:Coastal showers dying out with a widespread frost developing along with freezing fog, which could become extensive. Winds remaining light. Minimum temperature -3 °C.
