Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said: “The findings of this report are undoubtedly disappointing but they are not a surprise. They reflect the warnings that the Chief Constable has been issuing for some time now. Hopefully this report will achieve what thus far our lobbying has failed to do, and will be the wake up call to properly fund the PSNI.

“Despite significant funding and resourcing challenges our police officers and police staff have been working tirelessly to safeguard victims and provide a reassuring presence in our local communities. We are pleased that His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services have rightly recognised the unwavering professionalism and dedication of the officers and staff of the PSNI. Their efforts have helped ensure Northern Ireland remains one of the safest places to live, work and raise a family in these islands. That should not be forgotten.

“The Inspectorate findings are sadly evidence of what we have been repeatedly warning for some time – namely that less police inevitably leads to less policing and a greater risk of threat and harm to the public. This report sets out the very real impact that chronic underfunding is having on our ability to protect the public. At each Policing Board accountability meeting the Chief Constable has set out the consequences of allowing the PSNI to fall to our lowest numbers, dangerously below the numbers required by the Patten Commission. This underinvestment cannot continue.

“In terms of preventing and deterring crime, anti-social behaviour and vulnerability the inspection found many positives particularly around how closely and effectively we work with communities and partner agencies when we have the resources to do so we provide an excellent service. However, we accept the Inspectorate’s finding that our performance in this area is at present only adequate principally due to having lost almost 400 officers through cuts.

“The Inspectorate rightly recognised that this was attributable to the long term underfunding of policing in Northern Ireland resulting in the lowest numbers of police officers in our history. Our front line neighbourhood and response teams are at significantly reduced strengths meaning our efforts to prevent crime and protect communities are being frustrated. We should all recognise what those officers remaining in our Neighbourhood Teams do every day to keep people safe.

“The Inspectorate’s finding that our approach to managing offenders and suspects requires improvement is sadly also a manifestation of precisely the kind of service impacts we have been warning about. Again in this area the Inspectorate are very clear that our Child Internet Protection, Offender Investigation Units and Victim Identification and Image Grading Team require additional resources in order to try and keep pace with demand. We have previously lost 190 detectives through underfunding and last June reset our detective establishment and have 140 unfilled detective posts.

“Immediate steps have been taken to address the identified backlogs in device examination and visits to offenders and significant improvements have been made. 

“However, in the medium to longer term our ability to address the gaps in the areas identified by the report will depend on our ability to secure our recovery business case, recently approved by the Justice Minister and now with the Department of Finance.

“This business case sets out a plan to recover police officer numbers to 7,000 with 2,572 police staff. Those numbers are still far below what is ultimately required. We are determined to provide the best service possible with the resources we have and crucially we will address the issues highlighted in the report.

“Throughout the HMICFRS inspection the Inspector of Constabulary states ‘I continue to be impressed by the professionalism and dedication of officers and staff serving in the PSNI. Their commitment to keeping people safe, preventing crime and providing victims with an effective service, often in the most difficult circumstances, is unwavering’.”