Clause 35 - Police complaints
Justice (Northern Ireland) Bill
5:15 pm
Mr Lembit Öpik (Montgomeryshire, Liberal Democrat)
Once again, I am sorry to say that my questions for the hon. Member for Newry and Armagh might have been better in an intervention.
The hon. Gentleman's intention is clearly to objectify and codify when something will be referred to the ombudsman. Nevertheless, the amendment does not do that, because somebody would still be required to make a judgment about whether an offence had been committed. The subjective nature of such a judgment could simply be bumped up one level, so that if the Secretary of State and the police authority were so inclined they could state that, in their judgment, there was no such indication.
Does the amendment achieve the hon. Gentleman's goal, or does it simply increase the pressure on the Secretary of State and the police authority to say, on occasion, that there is not sufficient indication that a member of the police force has committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner that would justify disciplinary proceedings? If my concern is founded, that could serve to increase stress on the police authority, and that would worry me.