Question
1. To detail the cost of a PSNI call out into Belfast City Centre during the night-time economy (6pm - 6am)? - Question withdrawn
2. To detail how many PSNI were called out to the City Centre in 2025 for (i) alcohol related incidents or (ii) incidents requiring first aid, which resulted in no one being taken onwards to hospital? Ie, could have been resolved by a first aider present.
3. To detail the number of PSNI transports to Emergency Departments in the Belfast Trust and the South Eastern Trust from Belfast City Centre during the night-time economy (6pm-6am) in 2025 for mental health, alcohol, or low-level first aid issues.
4. To detail the number of PSNI call outs in Belfast City Centre during the night-time economy (6pm-6am) in 2025 that were due to alcohol related incidents in which no police intervention was required.
5. To detail the average number of hours PSNI officers are spending in emergency rooms during the night-time economy (6pm-6am) and the average cost.
Answer
PSNI does not currently hold the information requested in a single, retrievable format. Accordingly, it is not possible to provide definitive figures in response to all elements of the questions as part of the RCRP project a data exercise was undertaken from 10 June to 7 July 2024. Its purpose was to provide an indicative picture of police demand arising from non-crime related concerns for safety. It was not designed to measure the cost, volume or nature of PSNI activity associated with the night time economy. The dataset does not include calls linked to crime and doesn’t specify the time periods during which the information was gathered. Caution should therefore be exercised when using RCRP data outside the intended scope for which was collected. Where possible, information has been provided for the wider Belfast area and for North and South Belfast, which cover much of the City Centre. This should be treated as an indication of wider demand and resource impact only; it does not provide a measure of Belfast City Centre or night-time-economy activity in 2025.
2. We are unable to provide numbers for City Centre so have broken it down into Belfast and also North & South Belfast as they cover the main areas of the City Centre. We also cannot provide total figures for alcohol related incidents but can supply figures for alcohol related crime. We cannot provide any details for first aid related incidents.
Belfast
a. During the hours of 6pm to 6am in 2025, police received 32,429 calls for service within Belfast and of those 29,964 were attended by police.
b. In 2025, a total of 5243 crimes and 807 ASB incidents were linked to alcohol. (We cannot narrow these figures down to 6pm-6am time period)
North & South Belfast only
c. During the hours of 6pm to 6am in 2025, police received 19,550 calls for service within South & North Belfast and, of those, 18,092 were attended by police.
d. In 2025, a total of 3521 crimes and 532 ASB incidents were linked to alcohol.
3. The number of transports to hospitals are not recorded on PSNI systems.
During the RCRP baselining exercise, across Northern Ireland, 142 incidents were recorded as “Transportation” during the 28-day exercise. Belfast District recorded 42 of these incidents; this is a district-wide figure and cannot be treated as a City Centre or night-time-economy measure.
The exercise also recorded 266 incidents where officers were waiting at an Emergency Department. Of these, 40 were at the Royal Victoria Hospital ED and 14 at the Mater Hospital ED; 49 were at Ulster Hospital ED. These figures identify the eventual waiting location, not whether PSNI transported the person, their point of origin, the time of day, or whether the presenting issue involved mental health, alcohol or low-level first aid.
- Mental-health-related incidents were also resource intensive: Belfast District recorded 16 Mental Health Detentions and 22 Voluntary Mental Health Patient incidents during the exercise. The available data does not establish how many resulted in transport to an ED or which Trust provided the care.
4. We do not hold retrievable data in respect of the number of PSNI call outs in Belfast City Centre that were due to alcohol where no police intervention was required as, alcohol is not a standalone incident category within our closing codes.
5. The baselining exercise which was conducted in 2024 supports a general observation on wait times in Emergency Departments. It cannot therefore provide an average specific to the 18:00–06:00 night-time economy, Belfast City Centre, or either Trust.
As a wider Northern Ireland baseline, officers recorded more than 2,925 officer-hours waiting in Emergency Departments across 266 incidents during the 28-day exercise. This equates to an average of approximately 11 officer-hours per ED incident. This measure reflects combined officer time rather than elapsed incident duration; where two officers remain, for example, one elapsed hour equates to two officer-hours.
The report estimates that, based on the baselining data, more than 38,000 officer-hours are spent annually in Emergency Departments, based on an upscaling of the 28-day exercise. This would equate to approximately £1.5M spent annually on officer hours in Emergency Departments across Northern Ireland. These are broad illustrative estimates and should not be represented as a cost for night-time activity.
The report identifies prolonged ED waits as particularly significant: 36.5% of ED waits lasted more than three hours, with the principal reasons being awaiting medical assessment, requests from medical staff, and behaviour indicating a risk of harm to self or others.
Future Data
Upon the various stages of implementation of RCRP phases, the PSNI will have new closing codes on its command and control system, introduced to allow improved collation of RCRP related incidents and data. This includes mental health related calls and concerns for safety/ welfare checks. The Mental Health Codes of practice went live on 1st September along with the associated closing codes. The welfare checks phase is due to go live on 31st October.
Nuala McAllister MLA - Alliance