14 April 2008

PSNI Spend £Millions On Internal Investigations

£5 million has been spent on internal investigations in the PSNI.

Costing an average of more than £30,000 to investigate each complaint against an officer, the Professional Standards Department (PSD) has investigated 159 internal complaints in its first 15 months.

The unit works in addition to the Police Ombudsman's office, which costs £9 million to run each year, and investigates external complaints against officers.

The PSD, which was set up in October 2006, cost £3.8 million to run in its first year.

From last October to January 31 the PSD had cost £1.3 million and if spending continues at the current rate, the PSD will cost about £5 million over the course of its second year in operation – a 31% increase.

The PSNI also said it had cost £4,389 to 'rebrand' the PSD when it replaced the Internal Investigation Branch.

South Belfast DUP Assemblyman Jimmy Spratt, who served for 30 years in the RUC, said that while it was important to investigate allegations against police, the money could be vastly reduced and used to put more officers on the street.

"At the moment, the management side of the PSNI is totally overboard, costing millions and millions of pounds, and this is just a small part of that,” the former Police Federation Chairman said.

"In District Policing Partnership meetings the police are telling us they need more officers, yet money is being poured into departments like this.

"The public are crying out for more police officers on the ground and this is just one part of a host of areas in the PSNI where money could be saved and used to increase the number of officers."

(BMcC)