POLICING Board member Gerry Kelly has said that there is "sectarianism within the PSNI" and called for the reinstatement of 50-50 recruitment.

On Monday, Chief Constable Simon Byrne announced his resignation after an emergency Policing Board meeting. It came just days after Mr Byrne refused to step down amid mounting unionist pressure for him to go after a High Court decision regarding the suspension of two officers after they arrested a victim of the Sean Graham bookmakers' massacre during a commemoration.

Mr Kelly was speaking yesterday before the Police Federation passed a vote of no confidence in PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Mark Hamilton, who had taken over the Chief Constable's responsibilities.

With the process already underway to appoint a new Chief Constable, North Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly says it is imperative to restore public confidence in policing here.

"I think the Chief Constable did the right thing for policing," he explained. "There has been a lot of negativity in recent weeks and understandably so, but we have an opportunity here to get it right.

"The incoming leadership has a big job of bringing back confidence, not only with the public but PSNI staff within their own force. The public deserve a fair and accountable police force which is impartial and represents the whole community.

"We need someone who has knowledge of this place, but that doesn’t necessarily mean someone from here. The new Chief Constable must be impartial and deal with issues such as sectarianism, misogyny, abuse of power within the PSNI and have a robust approach to it."

The Sinn Féin man also called for a re-introduction of 50-50 recruitment within the PSNI, which was abandoned in 2011 and called out sectarianism within the force.

"At the moment, the number of Catholics is sitting at around 30 per cent, which is better than it was before," he added. "The decision to remove 50-50 recruitment was a political decision and it was wrong.

"There are also issues with retention. There has been a trend of young Catholic officers not staying in the job.

"I know myself there is sectarianism within the force. There are twice as many stop and searches of Catholics and 58 per cent of all those (officers) suspended are Catholic. These statistics show something is seriously wrong within the PSNI."

Mr Kelly also hit out at critics who believe politicians should not be involved with the PSNI.

"I am an elected representative and have been on the Policing Board for many years. It is our job as members to know what is happening on the ground. It can be difficult at times but any idea of removing politicians from the Board is not the way to go about this."

Gerry expects the process to appoint a new Chief Constable to take at least three months but says it may take longer in order to ensure they get it right.

"The Deputy Chief Constable has taken over responsibilities of the Chief Constable and legislation allows this for generally a three-month period.

"The process has already started. It will not be rushed. If it goes past the three-month period, that is fine but we need to get this right because people are looking at us."