Police Ombudsman FAQs
No. Some complaints received will be outside our remit and cannot be dealt with by our office. Others will be closed because, for example, they are vexatious or ill-founded and some will be referred for informal resolution. In some instances we may need more information before a decision can be made to investigate.
None of the staff of the Police Ombudsman's Office are members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
No. We will also deal with complaints relating to Belfast Harbour Police and Belfast International Airport Police, as well as serious complaints about Ministry of Defence Police, National Crime Agency officers, Immigration and Border Agency officials in Northern Ireland and officers of the Independent Commission for Reconcilation and Information Recovery (ICRIR). We do not investigate complaints against the Army.
The Police Ombudsman is independent and her decisions are final.
Her investigators make decisions based on the evidence they have and in accordance with the relevant legislation.
We cannot change the decisions we make about your police complaint and we do not undertake reviews or appeals of the outcomes of our investigations, unless new information or evidence which may have a material effect on the decision becomes available.
Any complaint received in relation to the outcome of an investigation is referred to the Customer Complaints Manager for review. If the Manager believes that new information or evidence has been provided which would make a material difference, the matter will be referred to the Director of Current Investigations who will make the decision about the re-opening of an investigation.
If you are unhappy with the outcome of an investigation, you can apply to the court for a judicial review of our decision. You may wish to seek independent legal advice on the judicial review process.
If you have expressed your dissatisfaction with the outcome of an investigation and we have issued you with a final response on the matter, we will consider the complaint to be closed and also close our correspondence.
Complaints about the service you have received
If you wish to make a complaint about the service you have received from the Police Ombudsman's Office, excluding the outcome of your complaint, you should write to:
Customer Complaints
Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland
New Cathedral Buildings
11 Church Street
BELFAST
BT1 1PG
We will look into your complaint and send you a written reply.
If you believe our response does not properly address your concerns, the letter you receive will explain how you can appeal the decision.
Further information is available in our Customer Complaint Policy.
We thoroughly investigate each case and the length of time it takes will depend on how complicated the case is. We may have to get information from other people such as doctors and solicitors, so it may take a little time.
Nothing. The service is free.
Contact us and we will advise you. You do not always need to know who the police officer was. We can usually find out who was in a particular place at a particular time.
All complaints about police misconduct are handled by the Police Ombudsman's Office. If you make your complaint to the police, or to your solicitor or local councillor, for example, they must be passed to us if they are to be dealt with.
The Police Ombudsman will recommend the appropriate criminal or disciplinary action.
The Police Ombudsman will explain to you why this has happened.
Our investigators make decisions based on the evidence they have and in accordance with the relevant legislation.
We cannot change the decisions we make about your complaint and we do not undertake reviews or appeals of the outcomes of our investigations, unless new information or evidence which may have a material effect on the decision becomes available.
Any complaint received in relation to the outcome of an investigation is referred to the Customer Complaints Manager for review. If the Manager believes that new information or evidence has been provided which would make a material difference, the matter will be referred to the Director of Current Investigations who will make the decision about the re-opening of an investigation.
If you are unhappy with the outcome of an investigation, you can apply to the court for a judicial review of our decision. You may wish to seek independent legal advice on the judicial review process.
If you have expressed your dissatisfaction with the outcome of an investigation and we have issued you with a final response on the matter, we will consider the complaint to be closed and also close our correspondence.
We will not make public the identity of any person we deal with - not you, the police, witnesses or anyone else. We will tell the police officer(s) involved who you are, and if your complaint leads to criminal proceedings we will have to reveal information to the court. You may be called as a witness