The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has turned down all 600 Polish applicants to the force – despite having just 24 working officers from Black or ethnic minority backgrounds.
Out of those who applied – many of them from Poland – just two managed to pass the English proficiency part of the exam, and neither presented themselves in Northern Ireland for the second phase of the application process.
Sebastian Serwiak, a Polish police officer who spent six months seconded to the PSNI, said that although the police were making honest efforts to diversify the force, the language issue was proving to be an insurmountable barrier for many would-be recruits.
“The PSNI is trying to ensure that the police service is representative of the communities we serve,” he told the BBC. “I know that there were a few hundred Polish who applied to work for the PSNI and language exams were held in Warsaw, but only two Polish people passed the exams and those two never appeared in Northern Ireland for the second part of the exam.”
However, Serwiak was optimistic that the PSNI would eventually manage to increase the number of Poles working in the force.
“I am absolutely sure that whenever a Polish applicant passes the exams and scenario, we will find a way to solve the problem – because there is the will and co-operation on both sides,” he said.
At present just 0.32 per cent of the force is from a Black or ethnic minority background. The PSNI’s officer profile includes one Black Caribbean, one Black other, five Chinese, one Indian, one Pakistani and five people of mixed ethnicity.
Metro Eireann contacted the PSNI for comment on the revelations, but none was forthcoming at the time of going to print.
