PSNI senior officer says service may be 'streamlined'

A row has broken out between the SDLP and a senior police officer after he said the number of local command units may be significantly reduced.

The deputy chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland said they will become more streamlined, in tandem with local council areas.

Deputy Chief Constable Paul Layton told a conference at Stormont that if the review of public administration now underway proposes a smaller number of councils, that would be mirrored by policing.

Larger local councils in police districts would be more efficient and deliver a better service to the public, he said.

There are now 29 command centres in the North, 25 matching local government areas with Belfast split into four.

Speculation is that the British government could reduce the number of local councils to as low as seven, 11 or 15.

SDLP spokesperson Alex Atwood said community-based policing required small units but his party would take some convincing that reducing their number served the public interest.