Comments under PSNI job advert racist, says police body

The president of the National Black Police Association (NBPA) has condemned "racist posts" under a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) recruitment advert.

The PSNI launched an officer recruitment campaign on Wednesday, aiming to lift numbers from an all-time low.

A recruitment advertisement, which featured an image of an officer from an ethnic minority background, was posted on the Office of the Chief Constable's account on X.

NBPA president and PSNI officer Andy George said it was "incredibly disappointing" to see dozens of racist posts underneath the advert and said it highlighted "the issues facing officers, staff and communities from ethnic minority backgrounds".

The PSNI's chief operating officer Pamela McCreedy said: "With respect to our Student Officer recruitment campaign, we are aware of a number of inappropriate and unacceptable posts circulating on social media.

"We will continue to use our advertising and outreach activities to encourage people from all communities, particularly those currently under-represented within the service, to apply for a career in policing" she added.

In a statement, the Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, said "abuse of this nature is wholly unacceptable and disgraceful".

"The people who engage in racism, whether online or on the street, have nothing whatsoever to offer our community," it said.

Policing Board member Trevor Clarke said a strong message must be sent that racism in any form is not acceptable and must be called out.

He added that policing must be "reflective and representative of the community it serves", and that the Board "fully supported the PSNI campaign.

"What we saw was a really positive day turned into something that, again, causes division which has the potential to stop us being a police service that we want to be," Mr George told BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show on Thursday.

Mr George said Northern Ireland was "one of the most underrepresented police services for people from ethnic minority backgrounds" in the UK.

He said there was a "serious lack of education" around racism and said social media could often be a space which highlighted "negative stereotypes and misinformation".

"The overarching message I would say is that there is more that binds us together and unites us than what divides us and keeps us apart," he said.

He said that he knew of many officers in custody suites and private spaces who had been racially abused.

The new campaign is the first significant drive to recruit trainees since 2021.

The PSNI has 6,300 officers - the lowest number in its history.

New officers will be offered a starting salary of £34,000, which includes a £4,000 allowance commonly referred to as "danger money".

Mr George said it was vital the PSNI attracted more people from people belonging to ethnic minorities to accurately represent the communities they serve.

He said the PSNI had an estimated 0.7% of the workforce made up of people belonging to ethnic minorities, compared to 8.1% of the population in Northern Ireland, according to the census in 2021.

Justice Minister Naomi Long described some of the comments posted on X underneath the advert as "appalling and disgraceful".

Long said increasing numbers and increasing diversity and representation of police officers was crucial in Northern Ireland.

"We don't want to have people working in our police service to be abused or denigrated because of the colour of their skin, religion or their gender."

"If the PSNI is to be acceptable right across the community and provide assurance must reflect the population it serves and that is an increasingly diverse population.

Long called for greater regulation of social media and said more must be done to tackle people who post offensive material.