Stormont has been urged to prioritise the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said he welcomed the inclusion of ending violence against women and girls and safer communities as two of the nine immediate priorities in the Executive’s draft programme for government last month.

He said police will play their part in those priorities but said they need to be “properly resourced to do so”.

We are now approaching the position, if indeed we're not already there, where we are unable to keep people as safe as we should be able to

“For that reason I was disappointed that policing was not front and centre and the subject of greater focus in the programme for government,” Mr Boutcher told the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

He said police numbers are at an “all-time low”, describing them as “insufficient to respond to deal with the crime that we now face”.

“The commitment to grow officer numbers to 7,500 in line with the New Decade New Approach strategy is also positive, however I do not think that the draft programme for government properly reflects the level of crisis facing the PSNI,” Mr Boutcher said.

“We are now approaching the position, if indeed we’re not already there, where we are unable to keep people as safe as we should be able to.

“I would like to see the justice and policing commitment strengthened and broadened.

“This cannot just be words on a page, we need to see these as a cast iron commitment.

“The number of police officers and police staff required for the PSNI in the next decade needs to be formally agreed by the Northern Ireland Executive.

With officer and staff numbers at their lowest since the formation of the PSNI, we simply cannot be as victim and community-focused as we want or need to be

“I would estimate that our police officer workforce should be 8,000 and our police staff towards 3,000.”

He added: “Attempting to do everything, everywhere, all the time is breaking the workforce.

“With officer and staff numbers at their lowest since the formation of the PSNI, we simply cannot be as victim and community-focused as we want or need to be.

“I am especially concerned that we will increasingly become an emergency response service rather than a proactive police service that is locally and neighbourhood-focused which is essential for a safe Northern Ireland.”

Policing Board chairman Mukesh Sharma said the board had met Justice Minister Naomi Long earlier on Thursday, and said resourcing was “centre stage in those discussions”.