Orde's 'difficult decision' sees 807 reserve officers axed

In what was "most challenging and difficult" decision he has made in two years since taking up the post of Chief Constable, Hugh Orde has said that 807 out of the current pool of 1,487 reserve officers must go.

Under the plans, 610 officers currently used to deliver a range of services alongside their regular colleagues would be reduced by to 141; and 197 of the 627 officers currently on static security will be axed.

However, the current establishment of 109 Full Time Reserve places in specialist Tactical Support Groups (TSGs) will be retained.

The departing officers will be released in a phased manner across an 18-month period from the termination of their contracts. A managed release process is important to ensure levels of service delivers across the relevant period, Mr Orde said.

At today's special meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, the Chief Constable confirmed that 680 officers would be retained on a three-year contract from April 1 2005.

Mr Orde stressed that his decision was "solely a policing one" based on "an assessment of how we can deliver an effective frontline service in the environment in which we have to police".

Since 1972, some 7,400 men and women have served in the full time reserve. Mr Orde paid tribute those who had served, saying they had done so "with determination, with dedication and with professionalism".

"They have been in the front line of policing and have faced threats, intimidation and physical danger alongside their regular colleagues. Forty-nine were murdered by terrorists with a further five murdered after they had left the service. Others have died on duty in the service of their local communities. Many hundreds have been injured. Some of those injuries have been horrific, leaving a legacy of pain and permanent disability. Their service cannot, nor should not ever be forgotten," he told the Policing Board.

The Chief Constable said that the police service would continue to "strive for high standards and maintain a strong commitment to the communities we serve".

Concluding, the Chief Constable said it was "absolutely vital that those individual members of the Full Time Reserve who would be leaving the service could do so with pride and dignity and respect for their contribution".

Newry and Armagh UUP assembly member Danny Kennedy slammed the move, saying it "smacks of being a political one rather than a practical policing one".

The 1999 Patten report recommended that "the future police service should not include a Full Time Reserve".

In late 2002, the Policing Board agreed to recommend to the Secretary of State that Full Time Reserve Contracts be retained until at least the end of March 2005.

(gmcg)