SDLP want 50:50 recruitment scheme for PSNI extended

The 50:50 recruitment scheme for Catholics and Protestants entering the PSNI must continue if a balanced service is to be delivered, nationalists claimed today.

The British government is scheduled to end the scheme next year when the number of Catholic officers in the historically Protestant dominated force reaches 30%.

The SDLP has said that is too low a threshold given that Catholics make up at least 44% of the North's population.

The party said that in the absence of positive discrimination it would take 30 years for Catholic population levels to be reflected among officers, or among police support staff where the SDLP said Catholic numbers currently sit at 17.7%.

Former governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten led a commission that made major proposals for police reform, including the 50/50 recruitment scheme, which over the last decade saw the Royal Ulster Constabulary give way to the new-look Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

While unionist politicians have attacked the recruitment scheme, nationalists have said it has succeeded in boosting Catholic numbers, though they now wish to see it extended beyond the proposed March 2011 deadline.

The SDLP's Alex Attwood, in a submission to the British government on the issue, said: "Patten said a judgment would need to be made, essentially in or around this time, as to whether special measures 'were still needed' adding 'the composition of the police should continue to move towards a closer resemblance to that of the community as a whole'."

Mr Attwood cited the last census in 2001 which put the Protestant community at 53% and the Catholic community at 44%.

"Given this evidence and the declared need for balance, the SDLP strongly recommends that 50:50 continue for both police officer and police support jobs," he said.

"Patten made it very clear that 'in the light of recruitment experience and other developments', a judgment was required if special measures were needed 'beyond ten years'.

"The judgment was to determine if special measures were needed or whether a police service representative of the community could 'be expected to develop organically'."

The SDLP spokesman added: "The evidence in this response is that, at best, a representative service on the officer side could develop slowly, with the civilian side more problematic.

"In this context, the argument for 'special measures' is compelling.

"The ending of 50:50 can, therefore, only be viewed as a response to unionist political pressure, not consistent with the Patten standards and not what is the better approach."

Meanwhile, Mr Attwood has expressed concerns over a new protocol on the relationship between the Northern Ireland Chief Constable and the new office of Justice Minister to be established under the devolution of policing and justice powers from Westminster to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

He said: "This protocol runs the risk of seriously damaging the hard-won achievement of Patten...In the view of the SDLP, the protocol has the potential to return Northern Ireland to a new era of political policing and we have advised the Secretary of State that we reject the protocol."

The Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin have said the protocol is still under discussion and denied any threat to current policing structures.