Rise in Catholic applications to PSNI

The Northern Ireland Policing Board has revealed that the number of Catholic's returning application forms for roles within the PSNI have risen.

According to the latest recruitment figures for the fitfth competition the PSNI received 9,752 requests for application packs, 1,173 more than the previous recruitment competition.

Of these, 2,218 (36.6%) were from the Roman Catholic community (up from 33.9% on Competition 4) while the number of female applications increased from 1,410 (31.2%) to 2,173 (35.9%).

Commenting on the figures the Chairman of the Policing Board, Professor Rea, said that the Board had found the figures encouraging: "Our goal is to make sure that the PSNI is representative of the whole community in Northern Ireland.

“Effective policing depends on having the right people delivering the right service directly to the community. I welcome the fact that increasing numbers of people want to join the Police Service and I would encourage more people to consider what is not only a very worthwhile and progressive career, but an opportunity to play a positive and important role in society."

The figures were revealed following the Policing Board's May monthly Board Meeting held in Belfast last week.

(MB)