PSNI legacy unit's independence questioned by police watchdog

THE PSNI has failed to implement important recommendations made by the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) police watchdog, according to its just-published 2013 report.

Five out of 20 recommendations previously proposed remain outstanding with the watchdog expressing “particular concern” about the independence of investigators attached to the Legacy Investigations Branch (LIB) tasked with investigating conflict-related killings.

The LIB replaced the now defunct and discredited Historical Enquiries Team (HET), which was slammed in the 2013 HMIC report over its bias in investigating killings carried out by the British military.

Now the HMIC is questioning the “vetting arrangements” that are in place to ensure officers engaged in this investigative role had no previous links to the cases they are investigating or the management of intelligence information.

Issues of openness and accountability were also raised as Article 2 of the European Court of Human Rights calls for independent inquiries into state killings.

Reacting to the latest HMIC findings, Gerry Kelly MLA, Sinn Féin's Policing spokesperson, said:

“The PSNI have now replaced the HET but many of the same problems remain.

“The LIB cannot satisfy Article 2 due to its lack of independence from the police service.”

Kelly said there is a need to urgently establish the Historical Investigations Unit (HIU) arising from the Stormont House Agreement.

“It is of paramount importance that lessons are drawn from this report and the failures of the past are not repeated.”

◼︎ Gerry Kelly has also slammed moves by the Department of Justice preventing the Policing Board from using its Human Rights Adviser.

“It is unacceptable for the Department of Justice to instruct the Policing Board to stop using its Human Rights Adviser who is crucial to oversight of policing.

“This would undermine the ethos of Patten in terms of oversight, accountability and human rights compliance,” the Sinn Féin MLA said, referring to the Independent Commission on Policing (1998 to 1999) chaired by British former Tory MP Chris Patten.

“It also makes no sense at all for the PSNI to stop overtime at the peak of the marching season.

“The decision to halt all discretionary spend by the Department of Justice has the potential to undermine the justice institutions.”