The Police Service of Northern Ireland: An inspection of police effectiveness, efficiency, vetting and standards

Published on: 10 October 2023

Publication types: Effectiveness, Efficiency, Ethics and accountability and Integrity and corruption

Police Forces: Police Service of Northern Ireland

In 2022 we were commissioned to inspect the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). We were asked specifically to examine efficiency, effectiveness, vetting and standards in the service.

We carried out this inspection between January and February 2023.

Our terms of reference were to inspect and report on:

  1. How well does the PSNI investigate crime?
  2. How well does the PSNI identify and protect vulnerable people?
  3. How effective are the PSNI’s arrangements for strategic planning and organisational management?
  4. How well does the PSNI prevent those unsuitable to serve the public from joining and remaining in the service?
  5. How well equipped is the PSNI to detect and deal with misogynistic, prejudicial and improper behaviour, and predatory behaviour?

This report sets out our findings.

Get the report

Read the report online

The Police Service of Northern Ireland – An inspection of police effectiveness, efficiency, vetting and standards (HTML)

Download the report

The Police Service of Northern Ireland – An inspection of police effectiveness, efficiency, vetting and standards (PDF document)

Find out more about PEEL

What is PEEL?

You can also see how other services have done using our forces overview.