FAQs: Investigations

We share your concerns about the way in which officers are informed that a complaint has been made against them. However, we are required by legislation to inform officers immediately about such complaints. When sending this notification, we provide as much information as we can. This may be limited because it is not until we conduct further enquiries that additional details emerge.

Officers should bear in mind that the receipt of an OMB52 does not mean that they are under investigation. The form is to advise officers that a complaint has been made about an incident. If it transpires that an officer is to be the subject of an investigation he or she will receive an OMB3 form (Regulation 9 notice), which is the formal notification that they are being investigated in a complaint matter.

Bear in mind that currently about 50% of all complaints go forward for investigation. In other cases, complaints may be deemed outside our remit, they may be withdrawn, or they may be referred for informal resolution.

The Police Ombudsman is acutely aware of the stress, in many occasions unnecessary stress, this notification process can produce. We have previously recommended that the requirement to issue OMB52s be dispensed with to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and the confusion caused by it.

We understand your concerns, but while the law remains as it is, we have no option but to provide these notifications. We will continue to do what we can to provide as much information as possible.

In accordance with a protocol agreed with the Chief Constable, individual officers are not served a Form OMB3, OMB3a or OMB3b unless a complaint is made or the investigation reveals that the officer may have acted in contravention of instructions. Otherwise officers who discharge baton rounds are treated as witnesses.

Police Ombudsman Investigation Officers have a responsibility to keep both the complainant and police officers informed of progress every eight weeks. This may be done by letter, email or phone call.

Officers who are the subject of an investigation are also encouraged to contact the office if they require additional information. You should contact the Investigation Officer dealing with your case, whose name appears on the Form OMB3 or Form OMB3B which you will have received to notify you that you are under investigation.

While every effort will be made to conduct an expeditious investigation, it should be noted that, due to the complexity of some investigations and input from outside agencies, delays might occur.

At any incident it is important that steps are taken to establish the facts. It is vital that evidence is preserved. Necessary action will be taken for that purpose and will be carried out in accordance with agreed protocols between the Office of the Police Ombudsman and the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Prior to the arrival of the Police Ombudsman's Investigation Officer the police officers present must take necessary steps to preserve the scene(s) and any other evidential material.

Further guidance can be found in the Guidance Notes which accompany Form OMB2.

The Police Ombudsman is required to investigate all cases of death which may have resulted from the conduct of the police. In these cases the Police Ombudsman will appoint a Family Liaison Officer.

The law is clear on this - Under Section 5 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 we are required to disclose to police information relating to any individual who may have committed a relevant offence. We have passed on such information on numerous occasions and will continue to comply with the law.

Having said that, when the evidence in question is clearly already available to police (for example if it is contained on police CCTV footage), the law does not require us to pass that information on. This is important in safeguarding our independence.

If police asked us for the information we would certainly pass it on, and the law requires its disclosure, but it would be impractical for us to routinely call the police to check that they knew the identity of individuals. It would also be likely to significantly dent public confidence in our independence.

We do not hold files on individual officers. We do, of course, have case files with information relating to the complaints that have been made and the investigations we have undertaken, which might include information relating to officers. We have procedures in place to ensure that such files are held for no longer than is legally necessary.

Police Ombudsman investigators would only seek access to the notifiable interests register if information from it was specifically relevant to a complaint under investigation. This would occur very rarely - there have been only a very few cases in which we have required access to the register.

Officers are never identified to the complainant. However, in the majority of cases the complainant is aware of the identity of the officer complained about, as he or she will often have been the arresting officer.

We are often asked this question and there seems to be a perception among many officers that we have made a large number of arrests. This is simply not the case.

The decision to arrest an officer is not taken lightly. We consider if there are grounds for arrest, a power of arrest and if an arrest is necessary. If those conditions are met, an arrest has to take place. At that stage we would tend to liaise with the Service Improvement Department.

The majority of arrests have been because serving or retired officers have refused to attend for interview.

That locker is technically the property of the Policing Board and if need be we will get the authority to search it. No such search will take place without a senior PSNI officer being present.

When an officer receives a form known as an OMB3 (OMB for Ombudsman) which notifies him or her that they are subject to investigation, then he or she will also be informed when the case is closed and how it has been closed.

If the complaint is dispensed with early on in the process and before the service of an OMB3 - for example the person making the complaint has not notified us of their intentions or the complaint is outside our remit - we do not correspond directly with an officer. In fact, in many such cases, no specific officer is named by the complainant.

No. We believe it is important in terms of police accountability that the police complaints system is freely accessible to all in society.

An officer's previous disciplinary record, depending on the facts of each case, may (if appropriate and relevant), play a part in an investigation. Similarly, the Police Ombudsman's Office may look at any previous complaints made by the complainant.

No, it is not the case that this is done as a matter of course. There may be occasions, however, when the particular circumstances of an investigation leads to that line of inquiry.