Since opening in November 2000, the Police Ombudsman's office has received 62 complaints against police officers in Ballymoney, members of the local District Policing Partnership were told last night (Wednesday).
Police Ombudsman, Mrs Nuala O'Loan, also revealed that the most common type of allegation against officers in the district was of failure in duty - including allegations that police had failed to respond to calls, or had failed to properly investigate crimes. Some 35% of all complaints against police in Ballymoney fell into this category
Mrs O'Loan addressed the local DPP as part of a programme of presentations to District Policing Partnerships across Northern Ireland.
She said: "It was a very useful meeting and I was glad to meet members and respond to questions about the police complaints system, specifically in relation to Ballymoney district.
"Statistics relating to complaints against the police can say a lot about the nature and quality of policing, and the benefit of attending DPPs is that members can speak to me directly about the sort of messages which are coming out of the statistical information."
Mrs O'Loan told members that she was particularly encouraged that the most serious category of complaints - those alleging oppressive behaviour - represented 17% of allegations in Ballymoney compared to 35% across Northern Ireland.
"Complaints about oppressive behaviour would include allegations of serious assault or harassment, so it is encouraging that policing in Ballymoney is giving rise to less of these allegations than some other areas of Northern Ireland," she said.
"The police are, of course, under an obligation to report all complaints to the Police Ombudsman as soon as possible."
Mrs O'Loan also told members that police in Ballymoney are slightly more likely than across Northern Ireland to receive complaints that they have been rude or discourteous - 19% of all complaints in the district relate to incivility compared to a Northern Ireland average of 13%.
Other statistics presented at the meeting included that:
- 69% of complainants in Ballymoney were male
- 63% of complainants were Protestant, 16% Catholic, 11% of other religions, and 11% of no religions
- 12% of complainants were aged 16 to 25, 56% beween 26 and 45, 24% between 46 and 65 and 8% above 65.
- 24% of the incidents complained about were alleged to have happened at police stations, 22% at domestic residences, 18% in a street or road, 2% outside a pub or bar, and 1% in a police vehicle.
- 34% of allegations related to criminal investigations being undertaken by the police, 15% to traffic incidents, 8% to arrests, 5% to domestic incidents and a similar number to searches, and 3% to parades or demonstrations.