Complaints against NI police rise

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The number of complaints being made against police in Northern Ireland has risen, the Police Ombudsman has said.

There were 3,120 matters referred to the Ombudsman last year - 3% more than the previous year.

They included 23 complaints of sexual assault and 29 of racism against police.

North Belfast received the most complaints, with 223 in a command area of 402 officers, and Moyle, which has 24 officers attracted 14 complaints.

Most of the complaints, 3,081, were made against officers by members of the public.

The rest were referred to the Ombudsman by police, the Public Prosecution Service and matters the Police Ombudsman himself decided to investigate.

COMPLAINT RANGES Homophobic behaviour - 8Racism - 29Sectarianism - 25Corrupt practice - 43Perjury - 86Sexual assault - 23Assault - 362008/2009 complaints 5,296

The figures are among the details contained in the Police Ombudsman's annual report for the last business year.

It said the office dealt with and closed more than 4,500 allegations against police officers.

In 374 cases the Police Ombudsman's Office found evidence to support the complaint.

As a result of Police Ombudsman investigations, 12 police officers faced prosecution and 306 were subject to discipline.

In one case, a PSNI officer threw his rifle at a motorcyclist who tried to drive through a police roadblock near Newry. The motorcyclist was hit on the helmet and fell off his bike.

A file was sent to the Public Prosecution Service who decided not to prosecute, but the officer was informally disciplined.

Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson said the investigations were not just about specific incidents.

"The process of investigating complaints can also identify issues of police policy or practice which could be refined and ultimately lead to better policing," he said.

"During the year we made 46 such recommendations to the police."

CASE STUDY A sergeant received a written warning after firing "an unnecessary and dangerous" shot at a vehicle as it passed through a police checkpoint in Londonderry.

The officer fired his personal protection pistol when a vehicle drove past him and another officer who tried to wave it down on Madam's Bank Road.

The officer, who was not wearing high-visibility clothing and did not have a torch, said he believed the vehicle was being driven directly towards him and believed his life was in danger.

However, a video recording of the incident indicated that, given the officer's position on the road, he was in no apparent danger from the vehicle and the shot was fired after the vehicle had passed him.

Mr Hutchinson recommended officers intending to stop vehicles, especially at night, should be required to use equipment, such as a torch and high visibility clothing.

In 1,819 of the cases closed by the office during the year - about 40% - investigators did not find evidence to support the complaint.

Mr Hutchinson said these findings are just as important as those where the complaints were upheld.

"For some people the knowledge that there is no evidence to support something they suspected and worried about is comforting. Similarly, for the police officers in those cases, the fact that an independent investigation has cleared them is important," he said.

Not all cases resulted in investigation with 449 cases informally resolved.

In more than 1,900 of the cases closed - about 40% - the office was not able to progress the matter, either because the person making the complaint later withdrew it or decided not to co-operate or because it subsequently became evident that the issue was not a matter for the Police Ombudsman.

Mr Hutchinson has said the biggest area of increase in his Office's work relates to 'other matters.' Last year it received almost 1,000 such matters - an increase of 35% on the previous year.

"Last year we had to deal with 973 matters which, although they were important to the member of the public who raised them, were not always complaints against police officers.

"These ranged from helping people with policing issues which did not materialise into complaints, to helping others deal with matters arising from their complaints but linked to other parts of the criminal justice system. It's all part of the service," he said.

The report details Mr Hutchinson's salary as £135,000 with an additional £29,300 in benefits.

The operating costs of the office was £8,581,116 with a wages bill of £5,925,468 for its 147 employees.