For more than two years, the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Jon Boutcher, has told a story of the mounting financial and recruitment crisis that has engulfed his force. In 2010, the National Health Service in Northern Ireland had a budget of £3.3 billion. His connection with Northern Ireland is now nearly a decade old, beginning in 2016 when he was put in charge of Operation Kenova alongside his work as chief constable of Bedfordshire, England.. PSNI officers in Portadown, Co Armagh, following three nights of disorder in Ballymena in June. Pressed about complaints made by the public along the Border about the near-disappearance of community policing, Boutcher does not even attempt to sugarcoat an answer.

Source: The Irish Times December 01, 2025 15:01 UTC