A police officer has been disciplined for failing to take immediate action following a report that an off-duty police officer may have been drink driving.
At around 10.26pm on 2 October 2009 a police officer at a Co. Down police station received a call from a member of the public (Man A) who advised that he had seen a man, who he believed was an off-duty police officer and described as being drunk, get out of a car and enter a residential address.
About half an hour later the officer who received the call briefed a more senior officer (Officer A) about the allegations. He said that while the caller had initially been keen to co-operate with police he had since indicated that he did not want to provide a statement.
Twenty minutes later Officer A called Man A and attempted to gain his co-operation. Man A agreed to meet Officer A the following evening to discuss the matter.
At midnight, Officer A contacted his line manager and informed him that he had previous acrimonious dealings with the off-duty officer against whom the report had been made. He expressed concern that a complaint would be made against him should he become involved in taking action against the man.
Officer A was advised to disregard these concerns and told him to deal with the matter.
At around 12.30am Officer A tasked a number of officers to attend the address referred to in Man A's call.
Two officers arrived at the address at 1am to find the house in darkness. They received no response at the door. The vehicle which had been reported earlier was parked in the street and the engine was cold.
One of the officers then contacted Officer A by phone and expressed concern about forcing entry to the property given that two and a half hours had passed since the initial report to police.
Officer A agreed that entry should not be forced and agreed that the officers should leave the address.
The police officers' handling of the incident was subsequently referred by the PSNI to the Police Ombudsman's Office on the basis that the police response may have been inadequate.
Police Ombudsman investigators retrieved all relevant documentation from the police, as well as recordings of telephone calls and radio transmissions. They also interviewed all the officers who had been involved and contacted Man A, who declined to provide a statement.
Having reviewed the evidence, the Police Ombudsman concluded that Officer A should have taken immediate action to deal with the allegations, irrespective of his concerns about attracting a complaint, and irrespective of whether Man A had given an undertaking to provide a statement.
Officer A has since been disciplined for failing to take immediate action to protect members of the public from a suspected intoxicated driver.
