Management Action Taken Against 74 Police Officers

Management action has been taken by Police in Northern Ireland against 74 officers for accessing body-worn video footage without a legitimate policing purpose.

An investigation by the Police Ombudsman found the footage, which features an arrest of a member of the public for possession of illegal drugs, was accessed 248 times by 82 police officers and one civilian staff member based at 20 police stations across Northern Ireland between December 2019 and November 2022.

During the incident, the arresting officer made an error while administering a criminal caution, causing a colleague to laugh in the background.

Most of the officers had accessed the footage once or twice, but many did so more often, including one officer who accessed it 21 times.

The issue came to light during a Police Ombudsman investigation of a separate matter, during which usage of the police's body-worn video system was examined.

Chief Executive of the Police Ombudsman's Office, Hugh Hume, said: "The video may have been viewed for entertainment and amusement, but the officers who did so showed little regard for the privacy of the man being arrested, nor for the emotional wellbeing of their colleague featured in the video."

Further enquiries established that only five police officers and one civilian staff member had a proper reason for accessing the video.

The Ombudsman investigation stated 74 officers had no legitimate reason for doing so, and two officers had since retired and could no longer be held accountable for misconduct. Another officer remains the subject of a separate and ongoing Police Ombudsman investigation examining potential criminality in relation to accessing the footage.

"The responses received from officers, when asked to provide their reasons for accessing the video, suggested an apparent lack of awareness that doing so might constitute a criminal or misconduct offence," continued Mr Hume.

"A number of officers indicated in their responses that as a result of the investigation by the Police Ombudsman's Office they had refreshed their knowledge of PSNI guidance regarding body-worn video, which I welcome."

The management action against the 74 officers who accessed the footage without proper reason was a "reasonable and proportionate outcome" according to Mr Hume.

He also welcomed the police's acceptance of three Police Ombudsman recommendations to prevent misuse of body-worn video.

However, he expressed concern that the police did not accept a fourth recommendation for a dip sampling exercise "to evaluate the scale of unauthorised access to the body-worn video system."

"Given the weaknesses in the control of access to body-worn video it is therefore our view that there remains a significant residual risk that private and personal data can be accessed without a legitimate policing purpose," he said.

"On this occasion the Police Ombudsman has taken the exceptional decision to share these findings with the Information Commissioner's Office in order that they can consider whether our insights can inform their work."