Northern Ireland faces policing crisis

Police in Northern Ireland are over-stretched and some officers are at "breaking point" because of constant sectarian unrest and inadequate resources, the province's policing chief warned yesterday.

The operational capability of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, formed just five months ago, was on the point of becoming "critical", said Acting Chief Constable Colin Cramphorn.

After 15 months of street disorder and with the threat from dissident republican and loyalist groups at its highest since the ceasefires five years ago, the pressure on manpower left virtually no room for "ordinary, day-to-day" policing, he said.

"In many areas we are simply responding to emergency calls and little else," he told the Policing Board that oversees the new force.

The ideal of policing with the community, as envisaged in post Good Friday Agreement reforms, had been reduced to an "unfulfilled aspiration" on all too many occasions, he said.

Mr Cramphorn delivered his warning as the board prepared to consider the future of the near 2,000-strong reserve of the former RUC. The warning on policing problems followed a further night of loyalist rioting in east Belfast on Thursday that left another nine officers injured.

Mr Cramphorn said the pressures of constant frontline duty were getting to officers, who found themselves with little time to recuperate week after week.

Figures show 10 per cent of PSNI regulars and full-time reservists are on sick leave.