Watchdog finds "no police bias" in handling of Bobby Storey funeral

A report conducted by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has found the Police Service of Northern Ireland showed no bias in its handing of the funeral of Bobby Storey.

The inspectorate has said it understood why the PSNI took the approach it did when handling the event given “likelihood of tensions, and because COVID-19 Regulations were confusing” and has found that police prioritised public security over enforcement of Covid-19 regulations.

The review was carried out after the Public Prosecution Service decided not to pursue prosecutions against 24 Sinn Fein members who attended the funeral despite coronavirus restrictions against gatherings.

A PPS report pointed to police engagement with the funeral planners as one reason why any prosecution would likely fail as well as the repeatedly changing and inconsistent nature of Stormont's Coronavirus regulations.

However, the report published today said the PSNI should have explained and encouraged compliance with the COVID-19 Regulations before the funeral took place, because the service had anticipated that breaches would occur on the day.

HMICFRS also found the PSNI took a consistent approach to investigating alleged breaches at similar funerals or events and concluded that much of the public criticism of the PSNI following the funeral was unwarranted.

After taking independent legal advice, the inspectorate agreed that the PPS was right not to prosecute politicians who attended the funeral, because there was no realistic prospect of them being convicted.

Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr said:

“The PSNI faced the complex challenge of policing a politically-sensitive funeral while also trying to interpret the confusing COVID-19 Regulations.

“The service took a sensitive approach, and ultimately achieved what it set out to do – prioritising public security over compliance with the Regulations.

“Due to the complex and frequently changing COVID-19 Regulations, we are not confident that there was enough evidence to prove to a court that any of the attendees at Bobby Storey’s funeral had knowingly committed an offence – and we therefore agree with the decision not to prosecute.

“I am reassured that the PSNI showed no bias in its handling of the funeral, and that the service would have taken the same approach if the funeral was held in a different community.

“The PSNI does however have lessons to learn from its handling of the funeral, and we have therefore made several recommendations to help it improve how it polices events in the future.”

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne welcomed the findings of the report.

He said: “The global pandemic has presented insurmountable challenges for policing everywhere. In the context of new and rapidly changing legislation, we have always sought, with the best of intentions, to support our colleagues working in the health sector to protect the community by preventing the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

“We welcome the findings of today's HMICFRS inspection report, both in terms of the assurance it provides to the public, and the learning it identifies for the Police Service.

“We are committed to impartiality and are pleased that the report concludes that there was no bias in our handling of the funeral, and that the same approach would have been taken if the funeral was held within a different community. Furthermore, the HMICFRS report supports the principle of early engagement recommending that this practice continues.

“We are listening and are determined to work with the entire community to enhance confidence in policing as an impartial and even-handed service working hard to protect our citizens.''

HMICFRS has recommended that the PSNI should:

• Broadly communicate the 4Es approach – engage, explain, encourage and enforce –whenever breaches of the COVID-19 Regulations are anticipated at events;

• make and retain proper records of conversations with event organisers; and

• carry out a formal debrief at the end of any policing operations.

The inspectorate also agreed with recommendations made by the Public Prosecution Service, including that the PSNI should engage with event organisers as early as possible to discuss risk assessments, and that the service should identify professional contacts they can engage with to interpret changes in the law that could affect the policing of an event.

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WATCH: No prosecution to be made over Bobby Storey funeral

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