Decision due on new PSNI chief constable

Northern Ireland's new chief constable is expected to be announced this evening following interviews in Belfast.

Northern Ireland's new chief constable is expected to be announced this evening following interviews in Belfast.

Members of the policing board will spend the day questioning the three candidates on why they should be appointed to the post.

Mr Chris Albiston

Regarded as one of the toughest policing jobs in the world, Mr Alan McQuillan, Mr Chris Albiston and Mr Huge Orde must all convince the panel they are the right man to lead the reformed Police Service of Northern Ireland. The job brings a salary of £130,000 sterling per year.

Mr McQuillan and Mr Albiston are both serving assistant chief constables in the PSNI.

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As the top officer in Belfast, Mr McQuillan's profile rose following his handling of rioting linked to the loyalist blockade at Holy Cross Catholic primary school in the north of the city.

Mr Albiston, meanwhile, has returned to Northern Ireland from Kosovo, where he led policing operations in the war-torn region.

But the two internal candidates also face a stiff challenge from Mr Orde, a Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner.

He is in charge of the day-to-day investigation into allegations that security forces colluded with loyalist terrorists in the 1989 murder of Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane.

Mr Colin Cramphorn, the acting chief constable since Sir Ronnie Flanagan stepped down in April, ruled himself out of the race early on.

Led by policing board chairman Professor Desmond Rea, unionist, nationalist and independent members will interview all three men at their Belfast headquarters.

Whoever they appoint must then address plummeting morale within the service since the Patten package of reforms to the old Royal Ulster Constabulary.

With sickness levels soaring and uncertainty surrounding the future of the full-time reserve, unionists have hit out after police numbers fell 500 short of the 7,500-strong force recommended in the Patten report.