Question
Ombudsman’s Report – In a recent Ombudsman’s report (July 2021) entitled, "Complaints and Allegations Received by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland – Quarterly Statistical Bulletin up to 30th June 2021" Members noted that the Ombudsman’s office received just over "700 complaints between April to June 2021. This is a 31% increase in the number of complaints received when compared with the same period last year".
Can the Chief Constable provide his understanding or explanation for this recent rise in complaints to the Ombudsman in this period?
Response
The comparative rise in complaints and allegation figures highlighted by the Police Ombudsman’s Quarterly Statistical Bulletin (April – June 2021) is both of concern and deserving of attention.
Analysis would indicate a trend of decreasing, followed by increasing complaints within this time frame. This would appear to be associated, to a large extent, with Covid-19 lockdown and the subsequent easing of Public Health Regulations.
By way of example, the month of April 2021 experienced the largest increase, when compared with April 2020. ‘Lockdown’ restrictions were at their height in April 2020 and this will undoubtedly have been a primary contributing factor to the comparative increase in complaint levels in April 2021.
In the period April – June 2021, ‘Failure in Duty’ allegations made up just under half of complaints received. The largest increase in allegations has been seen in the category of ‘Oppressive Behaviour’, which has risen 91% on the same period in 2020. This has been most concentrated in the allegation sub-category of ‘Oppressive Conduct (not involving assault)’, which has risen from 100 to 179 allegations. The sub-category of ‘Other assault’ has also risen from 70 to 117 allegations.
During June 2021, there was a significant spike in Oppressive Behaviour allegations, with 67 allegations received that month. This coincided with reopening of indoor hospitality services, which may have played a part in this increase.
There has also been an increase in Section 55 Referrals to the Police Ombudsman. One such referral was made in the first quarter of 2020, compared with twelve referrals in the first quarter of 2021. Five of these referrals related to the use of Spit and Bite Guards. Issues arising from such referrals, such a training compliance have been proactively addressed.
The Ombudsman’s Office has advised that the public profile of their office has increased during the pandemic (from 91.3% awareness in the Office in 2019 to 97.5% awareness in 2020). This may be due, in part, to a number of high profile investigations. This increased public profile may go some way to explaining the increase in complaints that have been experienced concurrently.
By way of reassurance, our ongoing monitoring of complaints would indicate that levels experienced in the first quarter of 2021 are reducing. We will, of course, have to wait for future quarterly reports to provide an accurate assessment of this and, indeed, statistics which cover the full financial year.
A further relevant consideration is that both 2019 and 2020 experienced significantly lower numbers of complaints than over the five year period, 2016 to date. That will have affected this significant and concerning increase this year. When considering data over the entire five year period, the average percentage increase in reporting stands at around 10%.
I welcome the receipt of this report from the Ombudsman as it provides me, the Service Executive Team and local District Commanders with vital information to ensure both local monitoring and ‘track and trend’ interventions are progressed for officers receiving multiple complaints. Such mitigating action is aimed at encouraging ethical behaviours and supporting officers to provide the best possible standard of service to the public.