The Ulster Unionist Party’s Policing Board representative, Alan Chambers MLA, has called for Police numbers to be increased to the levels recommended by the Patten Report.
Speaking after the new Chief Constable Simon Byrne said there is a "strong clamour" for more officers on the streets across Northern Ireland, Alan Chambers MLA said:
“In calling for more officers, the Chief Constable is simply saying what the Ulster Unionist Party has been for a number of years.
“Quite bluntly, the Policing Board cannot hold the Chief Constable to account on service delivery if he is not given the resources he needs to do the job.
“The Patten Report made two key recommendations regarding police numbers, neither of which have ever been delivered on.
“Patten recommended 7,500 full time officers backed up by a Part Time Reserve of 2,500, giving a total of 10,000 officers.
“Instead we are asking the PSNI to try to get by with 6,700 officers, relying on goodwill, overtime and creating unacceptable stress and sickness levels in the process.
“That is simply not acceptable and it is long past time that something was done about it. I shall be raising this issue at the next meeting of the Policing Board and I shall continue to raise it until we find a way of solving this problem.”