Police Federation say officers not to blame following ombudsman report into lack of consistency during protests

After an ombudsman investigation into the PSNI’s handling of a Protect Our Monuments protest and Black Lives Matter protests, a spokesperson for the Police Federation for Northern Ireland said: "It has to be borne in mind that this was a febrile period when there were new guidelines, and no clear-sighted guidance, on how to police gatherings.

"Officers on the ground were acting on instructions from their Senior Command and were not in any way at fault. It is right that lessons have been learned in what was a complex operational environment for PSNI and its officers.”

In light of the report, Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said the PSNI are “determined to improve relationships”.

Mr Singleton had earlier commented: “These protests occurred against a backdrop of an unprecedented health crisis and rapidly changing legislation.

“During this time a key objective was to help slow the spread of the virus to keep people safe.

“Balancing this against our obligation to safeguard other important rights – such as the right to peacefully protest – was not easy and we have previously accepted that as a service, we didn’t always get that balance right.

“We continue in our work to implement the lessons learned from this period and are determined to improve relationships and build confidence and trust in policing among all communities in Northern Ireland.”

Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson said the PSNI approach to investigating a Protect Our Monuments protest at Belfast City Hall contrasted with how the force dealt with Black Lives Matter protests.

Mrs Anderson said the lack of consistency is “likely to compound damage to confidence in policing within the black, Asian and minority ethnic community”.

Her report concluded that the police investigation into a protest organised to protect war memorials in Belfast on June 13, 2020 was “closed prematurely” following a failure to access and exploit intelligence which may have led to the identification of the protest organisers.

She added that the outcome was in contrast to the prompt identification by police of persons suspected to have been the organisers of Black Lives Matter protests earlier that month, a number of whom were reported to the Public Prosecution Service.

The protests occurred at a time when public restrictions were in place due to the Covid pandemic.

The ombudsman previously published a report in December 2020 about the policing of the Black Lives Matter protests. It did not identify systemic racism issues but did make a series of recommendations to address concerns and assist in building trust between those communities and police.

She then decided to conduct an investigation into the conduct of officers who policed the Protect Our Monuments protest, which was organised to defend war memorials amid a number of attacks on statues of historical figures at the time.

The ombudsman said she established the existence of police intelligence linking a number of individuals in an organisational capacity to the protest.

There was, Mrs Anderson said, an error in submitting a request for intelligence and a lack of follow-up when no response to the request was received.

In addition, the ombudsman said there was no evidence that the senior investigating officer took other relevant information relating to intelligence into account and the case was closed.

Mrs Anderson said: “I had recommended disciplinary proceedings, which could not be progressed by PSNI as a result of the officer’s retirement.

“However, I also made policy recommendations in relation to the systemic failing in how PSNI handled intelligence and these have been partially addressed which I welcome.

“I also welcome the work of PSNI since December 2020 to address the recommendations made as a result of my Black Lives Matter investigation to build confidence in policing and ensure these communities experience policing on an equal footing.”