PFC calls for the resignation of the NI Police Ombudsman and the Senior Director of Operations
PFC statement in response to CJI leak | 15 August 2011
Commenting on a report carried on “The Detail” website, a spokesperson for the PFC said:
“We still await the publication of the Criminal Justice Inspector’s report into the operation of the Police Ombudsman’s office. We will respond to that when we see it. Nevertheless, we also feel impelled to respond now.
“If ‘The Detail’ claims accurately reflect the CJI’s yet-to-be published report, they parallel our own experience of working with the current Police Ombudsman.
“Similar concerns were also included in recent reports from the Committee on the Administration of Justice and the Community Relations Council.
“The PFC’s concerns focus on:
1. Growing evidence of undue PSNI influence on reports as expressed by the former OPONI chief executive, Sam Pollock.
2. Widely differing definitions of collusion expressed in OPONI reports (e.g. Claudy/McGurk’s/Loughinisland).
3. Gross inaccuracies in the first (and subsequently withdrawn) report into the McGurk’s Bar explosion.
4. Excessive time delays in preparing and publishing reports.
5. The added grief caused by all this to already traumatised families.
“These weaknesses in process and leadership have led to a critical fall in public confidence in the office of the Police Ombudsman. Confidence in policing is significantly predicated on confidence in an independent and robust Ombudsman’s office.
“Weaknesses in the Ombudsman’s leadership and operational independence are being exploited by the ‘old guard’ in the PSNI who have always viewed the office with suspicion