Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long said she shares the chief constable’s ambition to increase police officer numbers.
Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has described current PSNI officer numbers as “dangerously low” and said he wants to see them increased to 7,000 within three years.
Ms Long said she shares that ambition when asked about it during questions for her department in the assembly.
“However, the reality is that police officer numbers cannot increase without additional funding which I have been actively working to secure through the appropriate channels,” she said in response to the question from SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan.
“My officials have also been working closely and constructively with the chief constable and his team to support the PSNI on the development of a plan to recover police officer numbers to enable the case to be made to the department of finance for additional funding.”
Ms Long said there are just three years left in this Assembly mandate and “limited capacity in the training school”.
“What we are trying to do is add roughly 150 officers to the PSNI each year,” she said.
“The funding for that will come through a business case where we will set out the cost to society if we do not achieve that objective. That would take us up to just shy of the 7,000 officers that has been the target figure that we’ve agreed for this phase.
“But it will require support of Executive colleagues and the minister of finance to be able to get the business case through.”
The PSNI is currently the preferred bidder for the 54-acre Kinnegar site close to Holywood, Co Down.
The service is set to pay £4.9 million for the former army site with plans to transform it into a new police college and training facility.
Ms Long was asked by DUP MLA Peter Martin whether the PSNI will be provided with adequate capital budget to fulfil its plans.
“The management of PSNI estate, including acquisitions, is entirely an operational matter for the chief constable who is accountable to the Northern Ireland Policing Board,” she told MLAs.
“However, I will continue working with the chief constable, my Executive colleagues and the Department of Finance to ensure we have a police service that is properly resourced in all aspects for the challenges it faces.”
During the coronavirus pandemic, a facility was set up at Kinnegar to act as a temporary mortuary if needed, referred to then as the Northern Ireland Temporary Resting Place. It reportedly cost £4 million.
UUP MLA Doug Beattie asked Ms Long whether there was any “claw back” for her department following the PSNI’s purchase from the Ministry of Defence.
“The investment in that particular piece of work is not something that would be clawed back from the sale of the site – that has already been dismantled,” she said.
“We were able to use the site at the behest of the MoD and so there is no claw back involved.”
In a statement, the PSNI said it is currently engaged as preferred bidder for the Kinnegar site in Holywood.
“This follows an internal expression of interest phase, as part of the D1 disposal process for public assets and is managed by Department of Finance, Land & Property Services and Central Advisory Unit,” they said.
“The site is proposed as a key enabler in wider Belfast rationalisation and aligns to the estates strategic asset plan, that includes provision for future delivery of a new police college and training facility for the PSNI. The proposed development of the site being subject to business case and future funding approved.
“We will continue to undertake significant engagement with various key stakeholders, including local residents, to discuss all the potential opportunities and benefits of any future development.”
