``Ms O'Loan is a member of the Police Authority, a body essentially in place to perform a public relations exercise for the RUC. As such her appointment to the position of Police Ombudsman will not inspire the confidence of the nationalist community''.
Sinn Fein spokesperson Bairbre de Brún, commenting on the appointment as Police Ombudsman of Nuala O'Loan, a member of the Police Authority.
Uninspired appointment
Police Authority member appointed Police Ombudsman
On Monday night, 11 October, Nuala O'Loan was installed as the new Police Ombudsman, a position that will in July 2000 replace the Independent Commission for Police Complaints (ICPC).
The appointment, envisioned as pivotal by Chris Patten in his report into the RUC, comes after considerable delay, partly due to former Secretary of State Mo Mowlam's rejection of the original short list. The Ombudsman is tasked with ``actively'' investigating complaints against the RUC and making recommendations to the Director of Public Prosecutions - a job the ICPC was singularly unsuccessful in fulfilling.
O'Loan, originally from Hertfordshire in England, is married to Ballymena SDLP councillor Declan O'Loan and is a senior law lecturer with experience on various public-orientated quangos. But it is O'Loan's membership of the Policing Authority of Northern Ireland (PANI), a body criticised in the Patten Report for ``defending the police service in allegations of wrongdoing, before such allegations of wrongdoing have been properly investigated'', that will make nationalists most concerned about this appointment. In contrast to PANI, the Ombudsman's office will recruit its own investigators and will be the first point of contact for all complaints. However, it may not be as independent as it first appears. Despite the Ombudsman's greater remit, it is unclear if the office's ability to investigate complaints against the RUC will be ultimately restricted by the RUC. Its mission statement acknowledges RUC supervision. And as with the ICPC, operational decisions by the RUC and RUC policy are beyond O'Loan's remit.
The ICPC has been repeatedly criticised for lacking either the will or the authority to to bring meaningful legal or disciplinary action against RUC members and these are the clear challenges to O'Loan.
Meanwhile, Les Rodgers of the Police Federation has embarked on a campaign to raise one million signatures on a petition to save the RUC.
In a speech launching the petition, he claimed that the Patten-recommended Policing Board - which replaces the Policing Authority - will not function properly as elected representatives (i.e. Sinn Féin) will prohibit the RUC chief from being honest.
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