25 Years of the PSNI - special anniversary episode of PSNI: Beyond the Badge

The fifth episode of the new Police Service of Northern Ireland podcast series – ‘PSNI: Beyond the Badge’ is out today , Wednesday 4th November - and it’s a special episode featuring Chief Constable Jon Boutcher and Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton.

This week’s episode, available here: https://psni-beyondthebadge.podbean.com/, coincides with the 25th anniversary of the PSNI.

The discussion with the PSNI’s most senior officers shows viewers their personal side as they tell host Lata Sharma what brought them to a career in policing and share more on the values instilled in them by their families, which have shaped their work ethic today.

They reflect on the successes and challenges the organisation has faced since its inception on Sunday 4 November 2001, when the Patten Commission’s vision of a more representative, cross-community Police Service became a reality.

They also discuss how television dramas - such as BBC’s Blue Lights and Peelers: the PSNI for Real - are giving audiences a greater insight into the realities of police life.

On the podcast, Chief Constable Boutcher talks about his childhood and the route that led him into policing. He reflects on the influence of his parents; his father’s encouragement to join the police, and the values that helped shaped him.

“I have met incredible people, Royalty, Prime Ministers and Taoisigh, people who have made a huge difference to society through incredible achievements, but nobody still touches my mum and dad,” he said.

“My dad was a minicab driver all his life and worked far too hard so that we could have whatever we needed. Mum was a hairdresser and spent 40 or 50 years on her feet. They also fostered many children… My dad saw an advert for the police in London and thought that I might be a fit, that started my career in policing.”

Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton, who was in the first PSNI student officer cohort in November 2001, reflects on joining the police.

Deputy Chief Constable Singleton said: “I worked the whole way through university. I was the first person in my family to have gone and finished university. But I knew that I wasn’t going to work in retail or business or anything like that. I wanted to do something where I genuinely felt I was making a difference.

“As I was coming through school and university, it was just around the time of the peace process and the opportunity just presented itself just exactly at the right time for me. I applied to join the PSNI and was in the first squad of the PSNI that started in November of 2001.

“We need people from all backgrounds to consider a career with the Police Service. We have men and women who do difficult work and we are well represented, but we need even greater representation.”

Chief Constable Boutcher said: "The podcast series has provided a further opportunity for us as an organisation to tell our story. In this episode we acknowledge the PSNI’s 25th anniversary and it’s particularly timely as the organisation is currently running a student officer and various staff posts vacancies.

“What our officers and staff are delivering every day, and the legacy of this organisation for the last 25 years is something that everybody who's been in the PSNI, at whatever level, whatever rank, should be extremely proud of.

“Everyone should be very optimistic about policing in Northern Ireland, because the future is really bright.”