Office workers for frontline as violence soars
Joe Stewart, the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s (PSNI) senior director of human resources, described the campaign to recruit 1,000 civilians to take up office jobs as a vital step forward under the blueprint for reforming the force.
“It’s an integral part of the organisation’s programme of change, as recommended in the Patten report on policing,” he said.
Job opportunities in IT, administrative support, public relations, training and education are to be advertised.
The drive comes as a report confirmed crime detection rates plunged to their lowest level for four years while bombings and shootings have shown a huge increase.
The Northern Ireland Policing Board’s first annual report has demanded the PSNI achieve better results after an analysis of the last 12 months found a 20.1% detection rate for all crimes despite a 31% target set.
Bombings have also increased by five times since the year after the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998. During 2001/2002 there were 318 compared to just 66 in 1999/2000.
Dissident republican and loyalist paramilitary organisations have been behind the vast bulk of the attacks.
The increased terrorist threat has led to some student police officers being issued with personal protection weapons.
Splinter republican groupings have launched bomb and gun attacks on new PSNI officers in a bid to frighten young Catholics from joining the force.
But Policing Board chairman Professor Desmond Rea yesterday insisted there was no evidence that recruitment to the PSNI was slowing down.
“It’s my belief and I hope it’s true that the dissidents will not achieve their end despite thes e threats,” he said.
