Record number apply to join PSNI

A record number of people have responded to the PSNI's latest recruitment drive.

The figures have increased in spite of the first terrorist murder of a PSNI member, Constable Stephen Carroll.

Almost 10,000 people, 37% of them Catholics, are competing for just 440 jobs,

Police, political parties and the government had been concerned that the murder by dissident republicans in March would affect recruitment.

There had been particular concerns about the impact on applications from Catholics.

However, figures for the latest recruitment drive - which started four days before Constable Carroll was killed and continued until early last month - reveal that has not happened.

The Policing Board said the response demonstrated that those who would wish to threaten and intimidate potential recruits to a career in policing had failed.