Major funding boost for Police Ombudsman’s office

The Department of Justice recently approved the business case from the Ombudsman’s office for the funding, spread over the next six years, to complete historic investigations. This brings the total expenditure over the six year period to £13million.

Justice Minister David Ford said: “This funding will ensure the Police Ombudsman’s Office is adequately resourced to complete its investigations into historic cases and represents a major increase over current funding levels.

“The resourcing of historic investigations has been a major issue for the office, as highlighted in last year’s report by the Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI).

“This funding over the next six years provides the Police Ombudsman with the resources to carry out effective investigations into this difficult area of work.

“I am reassured that there has been progress on a number of fronts since publication of the CJINI report and in particular in reforming the processes around the investigation and reporting of historic cases.”