Talk:Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland

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Hi,

I am an Information Officer with the Police Ombudsman's Office. There is some additional information about the work of the Office which I believe would improve the Wikipedia entry. However, given guidelines on Conflict of Interest, reather than editing the page directly, can I propose the page is amended as follows:

The Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (OPONI; Irish: Ombudsman Póilíní do Thuaisceart Éireann, Ulster-Scots: Owersman fur tha Polis o Norlin Airlann) is a non-departmental public body intended to provide an independent, impartial police complaints system for the people and police under the Police (Northern Ireland) Acts of 1998 and 2000.

Contents [hide] 1 Personnel 2 Office Structure and Legal Remit 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

Office Structure and Legal Remit

The law in Northern Ireland does not permit the police to investigate complaints made by members of the public about the conduct of police officers. These must be referred instead to the Police Ombudsman’s Office for independent investigation[1]. The Office has a complement of around 150, about two thirds of whom are employed within the Office’s investigative teams.

There are two main strands to the investigative work of the Office – current and historical. Its current work involves dealing with complaints about the conduct of police officers during incidents which have occurred in the previous 12 months.

Legislation also permits the Police Ombudsman to investigate matters involving police officers which he considers to be grave or exceptional, no matter when they took place[2]. These are cases in which police officers may have been responsible for deaths or serious criminality. Complaints being dealt with by the Office include those alleging police involvement in murder, attempted murder, as well as conspiracy and incitement to murder[3]. Most of these historical cases relate to incidents during the conflict in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1998 (commonly referred to as “The Troubles”).

Since opening on 7 November 2000, the Office has dealt with between 2,900 and 3,600 complaints each year[4].

Personnel[edit source | edit]The Police Ombudsman is Dr Michael Maguire, who was appointed in July 2012, having previously served as the Chief Inspector of the Criminal Justice Inspectorate Northern Ireland (2008-12)[5].

Dr Maguire’s predecessor Al Hutchinson, who had previously been Police Oversight Commissioner, took up office on 6 November 2007 [6], and retired in January 2011 following a series of critical independent reports. The first Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland was Nuala O’Loan, whose seven year term in Office ended in November 2007. She has since been appointed a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II[7] and was subsequently appointed to the House of Lords.

See also[edit source | edit]List of Government departments and agencies in Northern Ireland Police Service of Northern Ireland

References: [1] Part VII of the Police (NI) Act 1998 [2] RUC (Complaints etc) Regulations 2001 [3] Investigating the Past [4] Developments in Police Complaints - Ten Years On 5.^ "Dr Michael Maguire to be new Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman". Bbc.co.uk. 6.^ "Hain appoints new PSNI ombudsman". News.bbc.co.uk. 26 June 2007. 7.^ O'Loan made dame in honours list BBC News, 29 December 2007

External links[edit source | edit]Official website

Many thanks Oponiinfo (talk) 11:33, 8 August 2013 (UTC)