Initially, Sinn Féin, which represented about a quarter of Northern Ireland voters at the time, refused to endorse the PSNI until the Patten Commission's recommendations were implemented in full.

In recent years, under new structural reforms, some chief inspectors command more than one area as the PSNI strives to make savings.

In 2001 the old police divisions and sub-divisions were replaced with 29 district command units (DCUs), broadly coterminous with local council areas.

Responsibility for policing and justice was devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 9 March 2010, although direction and control of the PSNI remains under the chief constable.

Other than in mutual aid circumstances they have more limited powers of a constable in the other two legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom—England and Wales, and Scotland.

The Patten Report recommended that a programme of long-term personnel exchanges should be established between the PSNI and the Garda Síochána, the national police force of Ireland.

[23] There are three levels of exchanges: The protocols for these movements of personnel were signed by both the Chief Constable of the PSNI and the Garda Commissioner on 21 February 2005.

Outcomes from misconduct hearings include dismissal, a requirement to resign, reduction in rank, monetary fines and cautions.

The PSNI was initially legally obliged to operate an affirmative action policy of recruiting 50% of its trainee officers from a Catholic background and 50% from a non-Catholic background, as recommended by the Patten Report, in order to address the under-representation of Catholics that had existed for many decades in policing; in 2001 the RUC was almost 92% Protestant.

Tactical Support Group (TSG) officers provide a range of core and specialist services to district policing teams.

When the six new versions of the PSNI uniform were introduced, in March 2002, the term 'bottle green' was used for basically the same colour to convey a less militaristic theme.

Officer headwear has remained the same and traditionally consists of peaked caps for males and kepi style hats for females.

[45] "The emblem explores the notion of inclusiveness and parity through the simple stylistic representation of a variety of symbols that reflect diversity, hope and the desire to mutually respect and protect difference through policing.

“The simple rendering of these symbols in a neutral format of things that both unite and divide reflects upon an inclusive society where all our values, common interests and differences are recognised, celebrated and protected.” In November 2001, the British government published proposals for the emblem of the nascent PSNI - some featured the flax flower or St. Patrick's Saltire, while others lacked any discernible symbols at all.

The committee comprised Pauline McCabe as Chair (McCabe was a business consultant who would later become Prisoner Ombudsman),[48] the DUP's Sammy Wilson, the UUP's Fred Cobain, the SDLP's Eddie McGrady, former SDLP communications director Tom Kelly, and crossbench hereditary peer Viscount Brookeborough.

The UUP, SDLP and DUP all commended the design they had agreed to - these parties had previously won two-thirds of all seats in the Assembly elections in 1998, and together made up 83% of unionists and 57% of nationalists.

The unionist News Letter commented that "the absence of Sinn Fein undoubtedly made the task of reaching a consensus a lot easier for all concerned".

Derry Sinn Féin councillor Paul Fleming called for the PSNI "to adopt a new badge and symbol which were entirely free from any association with either the British or Irish states".

Fleming further described the inclusion of the crown and harp (both of which had been present previously in the RUC's badge) as "at odds with Patten", and criticised the SDLP for 'capitulating' in the face of "unionist pressure".

[51] Later, the SDLP's West Belfast MLA Alex Attwood hit back at the Sinn Féin criticisms, saying "There is no British crown.

[52] PSNI officers wear overt body armour vests featuring RF1 standard ballistic plates, designed to stop high-velocity rifle rounds.

In 2011, however, it was announced that some of the aging Tangi fleet were to be replaced in response to officer safety concerns following the 2010 Northern Ireland riots,[69] and as of 2021, only four remained in frontline service.

[79] All aircraft are used for investigations, anti-crime operations, traffic management, search and rescue, public order situations, crime reduction initiatives and tackling terrorism.

Other items of equipment include: The PSNI previously issued BlackBerry devices to officers,[86] which have now been replaced by various models of Android smartphones.

The disclosed data included surnames, initials, ranks, work locations and departments for all PSNI employees.

[88] On 26 September 2024, the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) issued a monetary penalty notice fining the PSNI £750,000 for infringements of data protection law related to the breach.

[88] The ICO noted the sensitive nature of the data given the security situation in Northern Ireland, stating the breach "could lead to the most severe consequences imaginable for officers, staff and their families.

In 2021 the BBC reported on news of 39 internal investigations into sexual misconduct or domestic abuse by PSNI officers over the past five years.

[90] In 2023 the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service (PPSNI) charged two PSNI officers for taking pictures of dead bodies.

[92] This 2023 disciplinary decision came about as a result of an internal investigation titled "Operation Warwick", by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland.