The Police Ombudsman's investigation focused on the discharge by police of 10 baton rounds and four live rounds during serious public disorder in the Cambrai Street area of Belfast on Wednesday 26th September 2001.
The situation followed an incident a few days previously when a Loyalist was allegedly dragged by Republicans into the Brookfield Mill complex, on the fringe of the Nationalist Ardoyne area, and threatened with a gun.
The investigation established that on the night of September 26th a crowd of between 250 and 300 Loyalists had gathered on the Crumlin Road, close to the Brookfield Mill, for a protest. The situation descended into severe public disorder when members of the crowd attempted to move towards the Mill, with police coming under heavy and sustained attack as they attempted to stop the crowd reaching the Mill.
During more than four hours of rioting, a total of around 50 gunshots, more than 100 petrol bombs, between 15 and 20 blast bombs and many fireworks, were directed at police lines. A number of vehicles were hijacked and set alight, including a bus which was placed across the road. In response police fired 10 baton rounds at identified rioters.
In addition, four live rounds were aimed at a gunman who had fired five low velocity shots from a handgun at a police Land Rover. The gunman was standing on top of a wall, which he jumped behind when police returned fire in his direction. Subsequent police attempts to disperse the rioters and apprehend the gunman failed due to the severity of the rioting and the number of petrol bombs being thrown.
A short time earlier an officer had identified a hooded gunman on a wall at the junction of Crumlin Road and Colombia Street and attempted to return fire with his police issue machine gun. The gun jammed, and by the time he had cleared two blocked rounds from the breach and reapplied his bullet magazine, the gunman was not in sight.
Police withdrew permission to deploy baton rounds shortly before 1am, by which time 30 officers had been injured in the rioting.
During their investigation of the incident, Police Ombudsman investigators reviewed a range of PSNI documentation, viewed police video evidence, checked the firearms training records of the officers involved, and submitted the police machine gun which jammed for forensic examination.
Outcome of investigation:
The Police Ombudsman's investigation concluded that the use of both baton rounds and live rounds during the incident was "proportionate, within legislation and guidelines; necessary to prevent serious injury and in accordance with force instructions and training."
All officers were found to be properly trained in the use of their firearms, except for one whose training had lapsed for a short period. Comment was made with regard to this.
The Police Ombudsman, Mrs Nuala O'Loan, concluded: "There is no evidence to support any criminal offence nor justify any disciplinary proceedings."
Meanwhile, forensic tests on the police rifle which jammed indicated that the wrong technique had been used to load the weapon. The test also showed that the rifle had a dirty mechanism, which indicated a lack of proper cleaning and maintenance.
The PSNI was informed of the findings of the report "as this may have an impact on training regarding the maintenance of equipment."