It has emerged that trainee officers are being drafted into top-level frontline posts in a bid to plug a serious post-Patten shortage of hardened detectives.

As police hunt a gunman in a failed cash-in-transit (CIT) robbery in Co Tyrone yesterday, it is reported the force is so desperate for veterans to fight crime it is re-employing dozens of officers who took golden-handshake redundancies under the wide-ranging policing reforms that saw the demise of the RUC.

Yesterday, NI Policing Board Vice Chairman, Barry Gilligan, revealed that there has been a shortfall in detectives in PSNI and this has been of concern to both the Board and the police.

He said: "A proposal was brought forward to introduce Trainee Intelligence Officers to the Crime Operations Department as a means of addressing the shortfall.

"This is in support of other initiatives such as recruiting detectives from other police services and appointing trainee investigators."

It has emerged that the scale of the shortfall has been blamed on the Patten Report - introduced 10 years ago - which recommended sweeping changes to the RUC.

It led to the replacement of the service with the PSNI and created a redundancy package for senior ranks designed to pave the way for new recruits - 50% of them Catholics.

As a result, hundreds of experienced detectives have left the police, leaving a huge resource gap to plug.

And the crisis is set to deepen with almost 250 experienced officers expected to quit under Patten in the next two years.

However, speaking on BBC Radio Ulster this morning, Board member Jimmy Spratt blasted the plan to propel "green" officers up the career ladder to make up for a lack in experienced officers.

And fellow member Ian Paisley Jnr yesterday branded the situation "madness".

The extent of the shortfall emerged last summer when it was revealed the PSNI had a shortfall of 147 detectives.

It was also claimed yesterday that the PSNI currently employs 79 staff from a recruitment agency, mostly ex-officers who stepped down with bumper payouts in the Patten upheavals.

However, the BBC said that even though some can take witness statements, they can't actively investigate crime and are tied up in administration.

Meanwhile, in Omagh, a CIT guard escaped a gunman who was attempting to rob him of his cash box yesterday.

Having been threatened with the gun, the security operative managed to escape by locking himself into the building and the gunman fled.

Detectives are appealing for help in catching the culprit after the High Street incident.

(BMcC)