Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has defended his bid to secure greater funding for the PSNI in the face of a rebuke from a top civil servant.
Department of Justice (DoJ) permanent secretary Hugh Widdis wrote to the chief constable last week warning him about budget constraints and stressing that there are “certain protocols that must be followed” when engaging with the British government.
The leaked correspondence was referring to a letter the chief constable wrote recently to British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer highlighting funding difficulties and record levels of sick leave by officers.
He described the PSNI as “exhausted” and said the circumstances had led to two officers taking their own lives.
Recent race-related violence and disorder have placed additional strain on police resources.
But following consultation with the Department of Finance, Mr Widdis told Mr Boutcher that he had “acted outside of well-established protocols” for those in charge of spending public money.
Notably, the permanent secretary sent copies of his letter to Downing Street, the first and deputy first ministers’ office, the justice minister, the assembly’s justice committee and the Policing Board.
He said any bid for additional money should come from the Department of Finance and that Mr Widdis’s predecessor had reminded the chief constable of this in December last year after comments at a meeting of the Policing Board.
Justice Minister Naomi Long described the letter’s contents as “entirely appropriate”, however, the Department of Finance declined to make it clear whether Sinn Féin Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald endorsed Mr Widdis’s rebuke of the chief constable.
The Police Federation of Northern Ireland (PFNI), the body representing rank and file PSNI officers, accused the top civil servant of a “high-handed attempt to gag, embarrass and chastise” Mr Boutcher.
Mrs Long said her department’s permanent secretary was responsible for “ensuring the regularity and propriety of departmental expenditure” and that it was “regrettable” the correspondence was leaked.
She said the substantive issue was “underfunding of the justice system”and consequently the PSNI was under resourced, a situation compounded by recent disorder.
“The position the PSNI are in now is as a direct result of budgets being continually squeezed over many years,” she said.
The minister said she had raised the need for more investment with the secretary of state and the prime minister, and would “continue to support and work with the chief constable and the PSNI in the coming weeks and months, and with executive colleagues, to secure what funding I can”.
In a statement, Mr Boutcher appeared unapologetic for making a direct plea for additional funds.
He said effective policing needed to be “delivered with operational independence” and that he was “very well aware” of his obligations to Mr Widdis as DoJ accounting officer.
“In seeking to discharge my duties I have been highlighting the critical issue of PSNI funding and the significant under resourcing and I have been doing this since I became chief constable last October,” he said.
He said he would work with all “stakeholders” to ensure the PSNI has the necessary funding.
PFNI chair Liam Kelly described Mr Widdis’s letter as “appalling” and “unlikely” to have been compiled unilaterally by the senior civil servant alone.
“In my view, the tone and tenor of this letter was disgraceful and was a crude attempt to put the chief constable firmly back in his box,” Mr Kelly said.
He said the letter had been “deliberately copied” to the prime minister and others.
DUP MLA Joanne Bunting questioned whether Ms Long opposed the chief constable’s actions “beyond a focus on protocol and position”.
“This is not the time to be more focused on ego and position than on the impact of underfunding on policing,” she said.
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: “We don’t have time for these petty squabbles about who should be sending letters.
“Whether it’s policing, the health service or schools - ministers need to get a grip and get to work.”
