50-50 policing to end in six days says NI Secretary

[Banana Man]

The policy of 50:50 Catholic/Protestant recruitment to the Police Service of Northern Ireland will end in six days' time.

On Tuesday, NI Secretary Owen Paterson said it was the right time to end the policy as almost 30% of officers are now from a Catholic background.

The policy was one of the recommendations for policing reform made in the 1999 Patten report.

Mr Paterson said the police force in NI could now develop naturally.

"With this transformation in the composition of the PSNI and NI's continued political progress, the use of these special measures can no longer be justified," Mr Paterson said in a written statement at Westminster.

The current 50-50 recruitment process was introduced to increase the numbers of Catholics joining the police.

When it was introduced in 2001, Catholics made up about 8% of the police service. By 2010, the level had risen to just over 27%.

Currently, 29.76% of officers come from the Catholic community.

Mr Paterson's statement came after a consultation process closed on 4 February. In total, 162 responses were received.