Police Federation 'furious' at Orde's reserve cuts

The Police Federation has voiced its fury over the Chief Constable's decision to axe 807 full time reserve posts.

In retaining only 680 reserve officers, the federation accused the Chief Constable of making a "politically informed" judgment and rejecting the professional advice of the Federation and of the Superintendents’ Association.

In a statement, the federation said: "The purpose of the Patten Report was to take politics out of policing. Today the Chief Constable singularly failed in observing that keystone."

Chief Constable Hugh Orde said yesterday his decision to release 807 out of the current pool of 1,487 reserve officers had been the "most challenging and difficult" decision he has made in two years since taking up the post.

At yesterday's special meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, the Chief Constable said 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".

However, the federation said today that its central committee had passed vote of ‘no confidence’ in the Chief Constable as "his ability to exercise independence of judgement has been compromised".

The leader of the UUP, David Trimble, backed the federation's assessment, saying the professional advice had been ignored, reducing the decision to simple politics.

"The Chief Constable must now address how he can restore his credibility," he added.

DUP Policing Board member, Sammy Wilson, said that the loss of so many reserve officers represented "a loss to everyone involved in the policing debate".

Mr Wilson said: "First of all, there is the human tragedy which will lie behind the redundancy which will be imposed on 800 men and women, many of whom, because of their age or previous employment will not find another job. The loss of 800 jobs in any other sector of the Northern Ireland economy would be regarded as a tragedy for the economy and would draw adverse criticism and comment."

Fears about the levels of crime in our society will also increase, said Mr Wilson, as the loss of police officers would "impact on the level of service given".

However, the SDLP's Policing Spokesperson Alex Attwood said that it had been "a good day for policing change" as the Patten Report's objective of bringing the reserve to an end was "in place and will happen in good time".

Mr Attwood added: "People need to step back from the emotion around this issue and recognise what is required is to bring about a police service with the confidence of all driven by the highest standards of training and professional duty and provides a full service to the community. Further hysteria is being whipped up by people who are anti-Patten, anti-change and hostile to good police practice. They should back off."

Sinn Fein slammed the reductions as not going far enough, saying that for progress to be made towards a new beginning it has to be removed from the policing equation altogether.

North Belfast assembly member Gerry Kelly added: "Many people within the nationalist community will be angered at the massive severance package agreed between the NIO and the Police Federation for those members of the Full Time Reserve who wish to leave. It seems as if failed and unrepresentative policing is being rewarded with massive amounts of public money."

The Lib Dems Shadow Northern Ireland Lembit Opik said that Mr Orde had made a "very sensible decision".

"It is clear that there is still a terrorist threat, from loyalist paramilitaries and from dissident republicans. It is essential that the Chief Constable has the resources necessary to provide the policing that Northern Ireland deserves," he added.

(GMCGM/MB)