Current Issues - 2002

September 2002

Reserving their Position

In his first speech to Conference Chairman Irwin Montgomery demanded to have confirmation that the position of the Full Time Reserve was guaranteed for the foreseeable future.

His argument was based on the publicly visible deterioration in the range of police services being provided across the community and the soaring level of injuries to officers since the present wave of civil disorder began last summer. Earlier this year the Federation conducted a survey of who was actually policing Northern Ireland. Almost one-third of the uniformed presence comprises our Full Time Reserve colleagues and in other areas such as West Belfast some 44 per cent of the strength is Full Time Reserve.

In the face of this evidence it beggars belief that the Secretary of State was unable to declare in his response that he is willing to authorise the decision. It is here that, sadly if inevitably, politics comes into play. The Secretary of State wants to give the Policing Board its position in assessing the overall human resource requirements of PSNI. The Board is mindful of the 7,500 figure recommended by the Patten Report, the current level of sickness and the prevailing unease about the security situation. While it juggles these considerations and awaits numbers from the new Chief Constable (whom we congratulate on the openness of his recommendation that the Reserve is needed) the Federation reflects its members' despair at the uncertainty.

The Secretary of State declared that he could have ended that uncertainty when he took office by disbanding the Reserve. Just as assuredly most of us believe that it would have led to the unravelling of the so-called peace with that ill-considered judgement.

Police officers almost by definition see issues as black and white matters, hence the frustration at the delay. We must therefore read between the lines of the Secretary of State's address. Two points stand out. First his tribute to the service was welcome; at no-time did he pour cold water on Chairman's analysis that the Reserve was indispensable. Secondly, we would share the view that the Board has to be allowed to find its feet as a single body. Even so, there can only be one conclusion: the Full Time Reserve cannot be phased out for many years to come if policing is to succeed.