Human Rights
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MONITORING THE COMPLIANCE OF THE POLICE SERVICE OF NORTHERN IRELAND WITH THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACT 1998 HUMAN RIGHTS ANNUAL REPORT 2008 Foreword I am pleased to present this 4th Human Rights Annual Report published by the Northern Ireland Policing Board (the Board). The Board has a statutory duty to monitor the performance of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in complying with the Human Rights Act 1998. The Board was of course the first oversight body in the UK to have a statutory responsibility to ensure a police service complies with the Human Rights Act. This best practice has since been extended to Police Authorities in England and Wales. For policing to be effective and secure the confidence of the community it is essential that human rights standards are integrated into and applied to all aspects of policing. This ensures that both the rights of the police and the public are properly protected. This detailed report records progress during the last year, makes a number of recommendations for the year ahead and includes an assessment of progress of the implementation of recommendations outstanding from previous reports. Members of the Board’s Human Rights & Professional Standards Committee have specific responsibility for scrutinising this work and assisted by the expertise of its Human Rights Advisors will oversee the implementation of recommendations made in this Report. Over the last 5 years Keir Starmer QC and Jane Gordon have provided invaluable assistance and guidance in developing the Board’s framework for monitoring this critical area. Keir stood down from his role as Advisor to the Board in May 2008 and on behalf of the Board I would like to thank him for his work. I would like to thank Jane Gordon for her work in producing the report this year. I am very grateful also for the contribution of Human Rights Consultants Alyson Kilpatrick and Marisa Leaf. Professor Sir Desmond Rea Chairman 1 CONTENTS Introduction 02 01 The PSNI Programme of Action 08 02 Training 10 03 Policy 34 04 Operations 46 05 Code of Ethics 66 06 Complaints, Discipline and Civil Actions 76 07 Public Order 118 08 Use of Force 128 09 Covert Policing 146 10 Victims 158 11 Treatment of Suspects 180 12 Human Rights Awareness in the PSNI 204 13 Policing with the Community 210 14 Privacy and Data Protection 214 15 Children and Young People 230 Appendix 1 242 Appendix 2 246 Appendix 3 254 2 Introduction The Human Rights Act 1998, which came into force on 2 October 2000, marked a turning point in the protection of human rights in the UK. It requires all public authorities - including the police - to act in a way which is compatible with the individual rights and freedoms contained in the European Convention on Human Rights. It provides individuals with remedies if a public authority breaches their human rights. However, it does not set up a mechanism for monitoring compliance with human rights. Human Rights Annual Report 2008 Introduction 3 The position for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is different. The Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 specifically requires the Northern Ireland Policing Board to monitor the performance of the PSNI in complying with the Human Rights Act 1998. In 2003, Keir Starmer QC and I were appointed to advise the Policing Board how to meet this statutory duty. Since then, we have published three Human Rights Annual Reports (2005, 2006 and 2007), two Special Reports, one on the policing of the Ardoyne parades 12 July 2004 and the second on the policing of the Ardoyne parades 12 July 2005 and the Whiterock parade 10 September 2005. We have also published detailed advice on the PSNI’s proposal to introduce Taser for use in Northern Ireland (May 2007) and two interim reports (July 2007 and January 2008) on the PSNI’s progress in implementing the recommendations made by the Police Ombudsman in her Operation Ballast Report of 22 January 2007, with a third interim report due to be published in October 2008. In February 2008, Keir Starmer QC stood down as human rights advisor to the Policing Board. Keir was recently appointed Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales. Congratulations are due to Keir on this important appointment and I wish him every success in his new role. As it is close to five years since we first designed the Policing Board’s human rights monitoring programme, we have spent time this year reviewing the Policing Board’s monitoring strategy. This is timely given the positive progress the PSNI has demonstrated towards establishing internal systems, processes and procedures which should ensure human rights compliance. It is appropriate and proper that the Policing Board reflect this progress in the level of scrutiny it provides to the PSNI’s human rights compliance. I have introduced the Board’s new human rights monitoring framework in part this year and this work will continue next year. This year’s human rights annual report concentrates on investigating the PSNI’s response to recommendations made in our three previous annual reports. The report’s developmental work focuses on particular areas of concern that have arisen over the course of the year, such as the PSNI use of stop and search powers, PSNI internal auditing of the use of force, the PSNI’s policy on suspension of officers and the management, security and disclosure of data and information held by the PSNI. The recommendations which I have made this year are purposely more broadly drawn to enable the Policing Board’s Human Rights Annual Report to become the tool by which the Policing Board audits the procedural mechanics of PSNI human rights compliance, i.e. the scrutiny of PSNI internal processes and procedures, such as the bi-annual 4 Northern Ireland Policing Board human rights auditing of training materials, the annual review of PSNI policies and procedures, the six monthly reports of PSNI Professional Standards Department activities and investigations, and the management, retention and disclosure of data and information. This refined approach to human rights annual reporting provides the Policing Board with the capacity to introduce a new element into its human rights monitoring framework: annual human rights thematic inquiries. These human rights thematics will focus on specific subject areas and involve detailed scrutiny and review of those areas of policing activity. A core element of the thematic inquiries will be community consultation and engagement. The Policing Board intends to publish written reports with its findings and recommendations at the conclusion of each human rights thematic. In May 2008, the Policing Board announced its first human rights thematic inquiry. The Policing Board’s Human Rights Thematic 2008 will consider the PSNI’s approach to tackling domestic violence against women. I now present the fourth Human Rights Annual Report, for 2007/2008. In it I plot the PSNI’s progress in implementing the recommendations made in our 2007 Annual Report, together with those outstanding recommendations from our 2005 and 2006 Annual Reports. In the course of this year’s monitoring work, I have spent a great deal of time with those responsible for the PSNI’s work on human rights, examining processes and systems designed to ensure human rights compliance and analysing numerous documents and statistics. As in previous years, I have sat in on operations, observed operational decision-making in PSNI Command rooms and on the ground, interviewed officers and reviewed all the available documentation and records. I have also spent time with those affected by the PSNI’s work and consulted interested parties on a wide range of matters relevant to this report. Once again, I would like to record that it is a tribute to the PSNI that in carrying out my work over the last twelve months, I have not been refused access to any officer, or to any incident or event that I have wanted to observe. I have been given unrestricted access to any documentation I have asked to inspect. This has now become the hallmark of the PSNI commitment to human rights compliance. In our 2007 Annual Report, we made 44 new recommendations and recorded 14 recommendations from 2006 and 12 recommendations from 2005 remained outstanding, either in whole or in part. I am pleased to report this year that Human Rights Annual Report 2008 Introduction 5 only three recommendations from a total of 149 recommendations made in 2005, 2006 and 2007 now remain outstanding. Of the 60 recommendations made in 2005, 56 have been implemented in full by the PSNI and 4 have been formally withdrawn. Of the 45 recommendations made in 2006, 42 have been implemented in full by the PSNI and 3 have been formally withdrawn. Of the 44 recommendations in 2007, 37 have been implemented in full by the PSNI, 4 have been formally withdrawn and 3 remain outstanding. Recommendations have been withdrawn over the last three years either because they have been replaced by a more appropriate recommendation in subsequent annual reports or because they have become defunct or been superseded. The PSNI is to be congratulated on its commitment to implementing the recommendations we have made over the course of the last three years. I recognise the hard work that has been undertaken to achieve this impressive result. The challenge the PSNI now faces is developing and sustaining a positive human rights culture amongst its officers at all ranks, from probationer to Chief Constable. In this year’s Annual Report, I make a total of 30 recommendations. The reduced number of recommendations reflects the real progress that has been made by the PSNI over the last five years but provides a renewed focus on areas where further progress is needed.