An overwhelming majority of officers say morale within the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is poor, according to one of the most comprehensive surveys ever of the force.
A survey in which four out of every 10 PSNI officers took part has found that 96% believed morale was low. The online poll for the Police Federation of Northern Ireland has revealed that a further 73% said their own personal morale was poor, working as officers in arguably the most dangerous policing job in western Europe.
Budget cuts, pension fears and internal changes are being blamed on the slump of morale within the force, according to the federation’s findings.
Mark Lindsay, the federation’s chairman, said the poll released on Wednesday was all the more significant because 2,527 serving officers in the PSNI took part, which is more than two-thirds of overall police numbers in Northern Ireland.
“Up until now, all we had to go on was anecdotal evidence. Now, we have robust, cold, hard facts which show just how low morale is within the PSNI.
“The findings are a source of great concern to this staff association, and I have furnished the chief constable and the minister for justice with the findings, which set out the well-founded fears of our members.
“These independently sourced and verified returns are not something that can be easily dismissed or explained away. They represent a significant challenge to ministers who control budgets and send a clear message to all concerned that it is impossible to do more with less without having a severe adverse effect on human beings.
“There are issues here that are not only for PSNI management to take on board, but for public representatives in the assembly, Westminster, and the Northern Ireland policing board to factor into their thinking.”
He described the findings as a “bleak feedback” in terms of how morale has plummeted in the PSNI. Lindsay added that 55% of respondents still said they feel proud to be in the police, and 53% are willing to go the extra mile for the PSNI.
“This tells us all we need to know about the great commitment there is to the job despite the severe challenges they face.”
As well as anxieties over cuts, pensions and internal changes, the PSNI still faces an ongoing terrorist threat from armed republican dissident groups opposed to the peace process. The anti-ceasefire republicans have made a number of so far unsuccessful attempts to kill PSNI officers this year, including rocket attacks using armour-piercing warheads against police vehicles and under-car booby trap bomb devices outside officers’ homes.
PSNI officers are also still getting injured in frontline clashes connected to disputed loyalist parades during the Ulster marching season. Back in July, one officer had one of his ears severed after being attacked by loyalist rioters at the Ardoyne/Twaddell Avenue sectarian junction, following a ban on an Orange Order parade.
Over the same 24 hours – around the marching season’s climax – up to 25 officers sustained injuries in the rioting, with another policeman so badly bitten in the hand by a loyalist rioter that he had to have 12 stitches.
