Religious / community background for all arrests made from January 2022 - June 2025

Question

In 2022, an FOI request highlighted that almost double the number of Catholics than Protestants were arrested. Can you please; 

1. Give the religious / community background for all arrests made from January 2022 - June 2025 

2. Give an update on the promised assurances from 2022 

Answer

1. The Police Service does not currently have a legislative power to require those who are arrested to provide information on their community background. The monitoring of community background statistics is, therefore, challenging in demonstrating an accountable balance between the exercise of police power, human rights, and data protection principles.

It is important to note, that the figures provided in this response are based on information voluntarily submitted by an arrested/charged person. Many individuals refuse to provide religious breakdown information when requested, impacting on statistical understanding.

A key consideration is that given the proportion of custody records where religion is none or otherwise not available (around 37% for the time period requested January 2022 to June 2025), a direct comparison looking only at the number/proportion of arrested persons identified as Roman Catholic (36% of total arrests) and those identified as 'Protestant and Other Christian' (23% of total arrests) may therefore be misleading. The remaining 4% represents ‘other religions’.

It is important to reassure the Board, and indeed the general public, of the Police Service’s organisational expectation that police officers and staff exercise powers and deliver services impartially, regardless of community background; and indeed this is a core value of policing acknowledged within our Code of Ethics and Competency and Values Framework. Human Rights and equality are foundational to policing and are embedded in training, application, supervision and oversight. Independent oversight by the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland and legislative governance arrangements provides additional safeguards.

There are a number of points of assurance. A significant proportion of arrests result from calls for service from the public. All arrests must be justified on a case-by-case basis by the arresting officer and reviewed by a custody officer, under the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, based on the grounds and necessity for arrest. The organisational use of policing powers is monitored by our Service Accountability Panel which is chaired by the Assistant Chief Constable for Operational Support Department and is attended by members of our Independent Advisory Group.

The following tables present a religion breakdown for custody arrests for calendar years 2022 to 2024 and January to June 2025. Northern Ireland religion based on Census 2011 and 2021 is also provided below. These tables should be viewed alongside the following caveats provided.

The figures presented in the following tables represent each time a person has been arrested and processed through custody, and are based on the first booking in date for each custody record (ie the same person may be represented more than once in these figures). Custody figures are provisional and may be subject to change. The religion breakdown may be subject to change where the NICHE nominal record is amended or updated. Religion options prefixed with 'Hist' are no longer available to be selected in the NICHE picklists. However NICHE nominals that were created when these options were available will continue to be recorded as such unless the record is updated.

Custody religion calendar years 2022 to 2024 and January to June 2025, with religions aggregated to allow comparison with Census 2011 and Census 2021

Calendar Years 2022 to 2024 and Jan-Jun 2025

1   includes Hist - Anglican, Hist - Baptist, Hist - Church of England, Hist - Congregational, Hist - Evangelical, Hist - Lutheran, Hist - Methodist, Hist - Pentecostal, Hist - Presbyterian, Mormon, Other Christian, Protestant
2   includes Buddhist, Hindu, Hist - Islam, Hist - Rastafarian, Jewish, Muslim, Other, Sikh
3   includes Hist - Agnostic, Hist - Atheist, No religion, None
4   there is no current option for 'unknown', however it is possible to leave the religion field blank

Aggregated religions as a percentage of all custody records, calendar years 2022 to 2024 and January to June 2025

Calendar Years 2022 to 2024 and Jan-Jun 2025

1  includes Hist - Anglican, Hist - Baptist, Hist - Church of England, Hist - Congregational, Hist - Evangelical, Hist - Lutheran, Hist - Methodist, Hist - Pentecostal, Hist - Presbyterian, Mormon, Other Christian, Protestant
2  includes Buddhist, Hindu, Hist - Islam, Hist - Rastafarian, Jewish, Muslim, Other, Sikh
3  includes Hist - Agnostic, Hist - Atheist, No religion, None
4  there is no current option for 'unknown', however it is possible to leave the religion field blank

Northern Ireland Religion based on Census 2011 and Census 2021, numbers and proportions 1

1 Census 2011 source table QS218NI (https://www.nisra.gov.uk/publications/2011-census-quick-statistics-tables-ethnicity-identity-language-and-religion), Census 2021 source table MS-B21: Religion - full detail (https://www.nisra.gov.uk/publications/census-2021-main-statistics-religion-tables)
A guidance note on use of religion question outputs is also available at https://www.nisra.gov.uk/publications/census-2021-main-statistics-religion-tables

2. In Spring 2025, PSNI commenced a Community Background Monitoring Working Group, in respect of persons Arrested and Charged / Reported. The working group meets bi-monthly and last met on 6th August 2025. The group reports to the Service Accountability Panel primarily, and the Strategic Custody Group as required.

The purpose of this working group is to implement processes within PSNI to ensure sufficient data is gathered to allow monitoring and publication. This will also assist in the development of any required adjustments to policies and processes both to assist us to achieve our policing plan objectives of being victim focused, community focused and workforce focused. Key areas of work have been identified. These are:

• Incorporate methodologies and findings of the Stop +Search Pilot
• Data gathering within custody
• Training
• Policy development
• Engagement and communication
• Recording of protected characteristics 

The approach of the working group is to:

• Ensure timely actions to provide confidence that operational policing understands and is responding to the implications of CBM. This has already begun through the work of the Stop + Search Pilot.
• Engage and communicate with key stakeholders and be open and transparent in our response recognising that the requirements for CBM has a big impact on trust and confidence internally and externally.
• Collaborate with partners to provide shared understanding of implications and consistent adoption of changes.
• Facilitate support and guidance from those outside of policing, such as the Department of Justice, NI Equality Commission, NI Human Rights Commission on developing best practice. 

The data gathering will be received via the PSNI custody record and NICHE. This will be collated by the Custody Officer. To create a required data field to capture community background monitoring within a custody record, and to make it compulsory that an answer is recorded, requires an external technological change applied by Niche Canada. It is anticipated that these changes will be applied by Niche Canada in mid-2026.

Dr Kate Laverty