The Chief Constable asked the Police Ombudsman's Office to investigate the discharge of three baton rounds by a PSNI officer during public disorder in Belfast's Short Strand area on 14 May 2002.
The rounds were fired when police and military units were attacked with stones and bottles, as well as paint, petrol and acid bombs.
The trouble flared after police moved into the Short Strand to search six houses in connection with reports of gunfire in the area two nights previously. Up to 11 shots had been fired by Nationalists during the rioting between rival factions from the Short Strand and the largely Loyalist Newtownards Road area. There were also reports of blast and pipe bombs having been thrown by Loyalists.
Crowds began gathering when police began their search operation in the Short Strand at about 3.40pm on 14 May 2002. By 4.10pm police reported that the crowds were being organised by known individuals and requested permission to deploy baton guns in anticipation of trouble.
Shortly after 4.30pm police reported that they were coming under attack from some members of a crowd of around 30 people at Lough Lea. It was also reported that two vehicles were blocking off the entrances into Lough Lea, leading to fears that police might become trapped. The police Silver Commander gave permission to push the vehicles out of the way if necessary.
Other police units at the various search locations across the Short Strand reported coming under increasingly heavy attack with stones and bottles. A large crowd was reported to be gathering at the Citybus depot at Mountpottinger Link, including males wearing masks. A number of vehicles were also placed across the Mountpottinger Road.
Army personnel, who had formed a cordon across the Mountpottinger Road close to the junction of Vulcan Street, reported being attacked with both paint and petrol bombs. There were also reports that acid and ammonia bombs were being used. By 5.12pm, soldiers had discharged a total of 10 baton rounds as they dealt with the violence.
Meanwhile, two petrol bombs were thrown at police units at Mountforde Gardens, and other units reported being attacked with petrol and acid bombs. At 5.16pm the police Gold Commander authorised permission to use baton rounds if required.
One of the police search locations was at Vulcan Link, and as officers moved away having completed their search a large crowd made their way down Vulcan Link and Vulcan Street and attempted to penetrate police and military lines. Military personnel, who were on foot, continued to come under sporadic petrol, paint and acid bomb attack from members of a crowd of several hundred people.
As police units withdrew from Lough Lea they moved towards the military cordon across the Mountpottinger Road. As they did so, a police baton gunner in the rear of a Land Rover reported observing a male carrying what appeared to be an acid bomb. The man was reported to be wearing surgical gloves. As he motioned towards police and army lines, the police baton gunner took aim through the porthole of the Land Rover and discharged a single baton round, which missed its target.
At 5.19pm another officer travelling in the same Land Rover reported seeing a male carrying a lit petrol bomb. He instructed the driver of the vehicle to slow down and pointed the person out to the baton gunner. The gunner took aim and discharged a baton round, which struck the man on the right thigh. He fell and dropped the petrol bomb.
Five minutes later another masked man was reported to have approached police lines with a lit petrol bomb. The baton gunner discharged another round, which struck the man on the left knee. The man hobbled back into the crowd.
During each of the three discharges described above, the baton gunner said the intended target had been more than 30 metres away. The police Land Rover had also been stationary.
During their investigation of the discharges, Police Ombudsman investigators obtained copies of the police radio transmission tapes and relevant Message Handling System messages.
Enquiries with the army also confirmed that soldiers had discharged 10 baton rounds. The army provided a copy of video evidence taken from a helicopter. While no discharges were captured on this video, at one point a police Land Rover is seen to mount a footpath and accelerate towards a number of people. The Police Ombudsman’s report states that this “clearly put these individuals at risk of either serious injury or loss of life.”
The footage was subsequently forensically enhanced in a bid to identify the markings on the Land Rover. This failed, but the Police Ombudsman states in her report that if the driver of the vehicle had been identified, a recommendation to prosecute for dangerous driving would have been made to the DPP.
"Without such positive identification, a prosecution or disciplinary action would not have been sustainable," said Mrs O'Loan.
Enquiries were also made at local Accident and Emergency Departments to establish if anyone had been admitted with injuries possibly caused by baton rounds. There were no such admissions at the Mater and City Hospitals, but the Royal Victoria Hospital reported that two people had received treatment for injuries consistent with baton round discharges. One sustained an injury to the left leg below the knee, the other to the chest.
A number of other people were treated at the Royal for injuries they claimed had been caused by bricks, but which medical staff believed were more consistent with baton round strikes.
Local community representatives were also asked if they could throw further light on the day's events, but this did not produce any additional information.
The Police Ombudsman’s Office received a number of complaints from members of the public following the disturbances.
In relation to two of these, it later emerged that legal representatives had lodged claims against the Ministry of Defence on behalf of their clients. This was at odds with the complaints against police, and on this basis it was decided that these complaints fell outside the remit of the Police Ombudsman's Office.
A complaint was also lodged on behalf of another named individual. However, subsequent enquiries revealed that neither this individual nor his mother wished to complain about the police.
Another complaint was made by a man who said he was positive he had been hit by a baton round fired by a soldier. The man was deeply unhappy with what he believed to have been inappropriate and excessive force used by the PSNI and the Army. He felt this had contributed to the deteriorating situation.
The man's legal representative raised the issue of police and army personnel working together to co-ordinate baton round discharges. The solicitor said they had witnesses in other cases who would state that police officers were directing army personnel to fire baton rounds at specific targets. However, when asked if he had any evidence to suggest that the soldier who fired the round which struck him had been directed by a police officer, the man said he had not. The complaint was therefore closed as the Police Ombudsman has no remit to investigate baton rounds fired by the Army.
A further complaint was made by a man who said that he was subjected to sectarian abuse while searching for his daughter. The man said he had been subjected to sectarian abuse by a police officer as he passed through police lines. He said he heard other officers make similar remarks to teenage children in the area. The man also alleged that he was struck by a baton which had been discharged from a moving Land Rover. A file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecution relating to the offence of Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm. The DPP directed no prosecution as there was no independent evidence to support this allegation.
Another complaint was closed after it became apparent during investigation that the baton round in question had been discharged by a soldier, and one more complaint was closed after numerous attempts to contact the complainant failed. He also failed to attend scheduled interviews arranged through his legal representatives.
Outcome of investigation:
The Police Ombudsman, Mrs Nuala O'Loan, concluded that the was no evidence of any police misconduct in relation to the baton rounds discharged by police during the disturbances at Short Strand on 14 May 2002.
She notes in her report that the violence was serious and that there was "the potential for the loss of life, particularly among police and military personnel who were deployed on foot."
"From the evidence it is clear that police were faced with a situation where serious and premeditated violence was taking place," said Mrs O'Loan. "Given the nature of the violence and the range of weaponry that was being used to attack police and military, there is little doubt that there was the potential for the loss of life. The use of baton rounds was therefore necessary due to the potential for serious injury."
Mrs O’Loan added that the use of baton rounds had been properly authorised and other options had been considered and used before officers resorted to using baton guns. These options included deploying officers without baton guns, the use of Land Rovers in an attempt to disperse the crowd, and the issuing of public order warnings.
The Police Ombudsman also pointed out that the baton gunner had fully co-operated with her investigators' inquiry. "He paid particular attention to detail regarding each baton round discharge, giving a full description of those he engaged," the Ombudsman's report notes.
One baton strike was captured on video obtained by the Police Ombudsman's Office. The gunner's description of the petrol bomber he engaged was described by Mrs O'Loan as "remarkably accurate."
Recommendations for police as a result of the Police Ombudsman's investigation:
The Police Ombudsman made a number of recommendations to police as a result of the investigation.
- That the police should consider whether all police vehicles used for general patrol and public order situations should have markings on their roof to make them identifiable from the air.
- That the video footage of the Land Rover being driven towards people on the footpath should be passed to the PSNI's training branch for their consideration.
- That the number of baton rounds being issued to officers should be accurately recorded (in this instance the officer was recorded as having been issued with "one box" of rounds, rather than the more precise 16 rounds). This problem had been commented upon in previous reports and the Police Ombudsman was told that it had been addressed. "It should again be emphasised that failings regarding such records seriously undermine the integrity of PSNI records, and leave the service open to criticism," said Mrs O'Loan.
- The Police Ombudsman reiterated a previous recommendation that police should take evidential video footage of baton round discharges. She noted from the roster for 14th May 2002 that a number of officers had been tasked as video operators, "presumably for the role of evidence gathering." However, investigators established that no footage had been taken.