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PSNI budget 'right down to wire' | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
The acting chief constable of the PSNI has said the police budget was "right down to the wire in terms of what we can cut into". | |
Judith Gillespie was speaking at a meeting of the Policing Board in which government demands to slash £17m from the budget were discussed. | |
Chairman of the board, Barry Gilligan, said the cuts were "unacceptable". | |
He said he had requested a meeting with Security Minister Paul Goggins to discuss the issue. | |
Mr Gilligan told the board: "Resources have been a prominent feature of discussions at this board table over the past year and further efficiencies will be sought by the treasury. | |
"But the board again were unanimous that at this time a cut of £17m is not acceptable to this board and the members of this board." | |
The Policing Board was meeting for the first time since the departure of Sir Hugh Orde as chief constable. | |
Acting Chief Constable Judith Gillespie told the meeting: "If we don't have flexibility in our budget we are going to have great difficulty moving forward. | |
"If we don't have that flexibility there is no doubt that frontline services will suffer, so without that flexibility we are going nowhere." | |
Political members of the board also spoke out against the cuts. | |
'Wise up' | |
The DUP's Peter Weir said the government had to "wise up". | |
"If they are looking to make progress, making threats to slash police budgets further is not going to be in anyone's interests," he said | |
Sinn Fein's Alex Maskey said while the board was prepared to make savings where they were practical, it did not want to deprive the public of a professional service. | |
"We also have to make sure that the officers themselves have the necessary resources to carry out their duties," he said. | |
An internal PSNI report saying police are not providing an effective service and have lost sight of what's important to communities was also being discussed at the meeting. | |
The report said officers spend more than 60% of their time in stations doing paper work. | The report said officers spend more than 60% of their time in stations doing paper work. |
An incident at Meigh in south Armagh, when armed dissident republicans were seen operating an illegal checkpoint, was also on the agenda. | |