Law; Northern Ireland Lawyers intimidated by police
01 March 2003
A report by the Police Ombudsman's Office into police harassment of lawyers and barristers in Northern Ireland has found fifty-five solicitors and barristers who said that they had experienced "intimidation, harassment or threats from the police." The majority of the incidents took place before the Ombudsman's office went into operation in November 2000. Over half of these respondents said that they were not the victims of a single incident but "frequent targets" who "had experienced incidents of mistreatment...three or more times". The "inappropriate" behaviour included "defamation, physical threat, threat of arrest and sectarian abuse", while more serious forms included accusations of involvement in terrorist activity and threats that their names and addresses would be given to a terrorist organisation. Most did not make a complaint, even about the most serious incidents, because "they felt that the police would not do anything about them." The report notes that "there are a number of lawyers who appear to have been frequent targets of this type of behaviour from the police."
The report was published on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the murder of human rights solicitor Rosemary Nelson at the hands of loyalist paramilitaries working in collusion with the Royal Ulster Constabulary. As the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) has pointed out, the timing allowed an opportunity to reflect:
upon the risk that some barristers and solicitors run in pursuing their chosen profession and the importance of taking all necessary steps to protect them against intimidation and harassment.
The risk is all the greater considering that "relatively few of the 2,834 solicitors and barristers in Northern Ireland routinely do work which brings them into conflict with the police."
Surprisingly, given the recently published summarised findings of the Stevens inquiry into loyalist/police collusion, the Ombudsman asserts that there is no evidence to suggest any police involvement in the murder of Pat Finucane.
The Police Federation of Northern Ireland has described the Ombudsman's report as “nothing more than a publicity stunt”. In a more considered response the CAJ, recalling that “in the past Northern Ireland has been almost entirely dependant on international bodies” (such as the UN Special Rapporteur) to monitor police abuses, says that “anything that helps make the work, and ultimately, the lives of solicitors safer, is an important advance”. It sees the real test in “what action will result from the Ombudsman's findings.”
Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland "A Study of the treatment of solicitors and barristers by the police in Northern Ireland" March 2003, http://www.policeombudsman.org; Just News, March 2003, CAJ website: http://www.caj.org.uk; Police Review 23.3.03