There is no prospect of police officers in Northern Ireland not being armed “in the short term”, Simon Byrne has said.
The PSNI chief constable said while it was “nice to think” that at some point in the future, officers would not need to be routinely armed, his current duty was to make sure his staff have the right equipment to deal with the threat they face.
A Policing Board report earlier this year raised questions about the future need for all police officers in Northern Ireland to carry handguns.
It also stated the issue should be considered because officers “very rarely” fire their weapons.
It noted that while firearms are drawn on hundreds of occasions each year, shots have only been discharged five times since 2012.
The suggestion was rejected at the time by the NI Police Federation.
Currently, all PSNI officers are armed with handguns, which they can also carry off-duty.
Mr Byrne said he welcomed the accountability work done by the Policing Board and the questions it asked about the future direction of policing.
But he added: “I don’t see any prospect in the short term of not having armed police officers on every shift right across the country.
“It would be nice to think that at some point we can get there.”
He contrasted the situation with police in the Republic of Ireland, where officers are not routinely armed.
Mr Byrne said: “That is based on years and years of experience and a different relationship with the community.
“I think for the foreseeable future, my job is to make sure that the officers that go on the street to protect the public have the right equipment that is proportionate to the threat that they face.”
He added: “We have called out numerous times about the rise on assaults on officers, which again is entirely unacceptable.
“We live in the real world. Policing is about dealing with conflict, it is about dealing with violent people who do not want to get arrested.
“You come into this profession knowing there is a risk of being hurt, of being assaulted but it doesn’t mean its right.
“I need to make sure we are working with the Policing Board, but also the staff associations like the Police Federation and the community to make sure we get the balance right to make sure how our officers appear, but also the tactics and the style, that it fits the threat that they have to face every day.”
Mr Byrne said the PSNI was “probably the most scrutinised” police force in western Europe.
He said: “We are accountable to the Policing Board, I have a line into the Secretary of State because of responsibilities to deal with national security issues and there are a range of third party commissioners here, whether it is around children’s rights, human rights, rights of the victim.
“But having spent most of my career in other parts of the UK, I am asked by people from all sorts of walks of life what it is like (in Northern Ireland).
“Having settled here for a while and looking at my own experience, I would say the focus on human rights and how much prominence it is given here makes sure that in policing we are fair and impartial, we minimise the use of force.
“It is the thing that singles us out from any other part of the UK in terms of quality and how impressive policing is here.”
