29.6.2005
As of today our new website address is www.patfinucanecentre.org and our new e-mail address will be info@patfinucanecentre.org
We have sent this email to anyone we have been in contact with in order to notify you of the change of email and website addresses. If you wish to be added to our regular updates please email with the message 'add to list'.
The old emails will function until the end of June but it is advisable to begin replacing now.
See www.patfinucanecentre.org for new materials including the Council of Europe report on the human rights situation in the UK which includes a chapter on the North and comments from the Commissioner on developments surrounding the Cory recommendations. See also the open letter from the PFC to PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde on the role and remit of the Historical Enquiries Team and the paper presented by the Chief Constable to a recent conference on truth processes.
"Lifting a dark cloud" - The Kathleen Thompson Story
The DVD "Lifting a dark cloud" - The Kathleen Thompson Story, tells the story of a mother of six from Creggan, Derry who was shot dead by soldiers of the British Army Royal Green Jackets Regiment on 6 November 1971. The DVD, directed by award winning director Ann Crilly and produced by the PFC, is now available to buy online. The cost is £10stg, €15 euro or $15 (P&P included). Payment is accepted by cheque, postal order or through Paypal, which is available on our website and is secure for transactions in sterling, euro and dollars. Contact info@patfinucanecentre.org (A member of the Thompson family is presently in N. America and it may be possible to organise a public meeting ?)
CS Spray and the Police Ombudsman
Speaking on BBC Radio Foyle last week Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan admitted that her office no longer routinely investigates each use of CS spray by PSNI officers. This came as a shock since both members of the District Policing Partnership and the local District Commander had issued public statements claiming that all uses of CS spray are referred to and investigated by her office.
The PFC has raised the issue on a number of occasions and will now be seeking clarification from her office.
When CS spray was first authorised for use by the Policing Board (at a private meeting from which the public was excluded) a statement was issued stating that the Board would ensure that 'stringent' guidelines were put in place. The District Commander in Derry also informed the PFC that these guidelines would be submitted to the Board for approval. In fact the PSNI went on to adopt guidelines which were not submitted to the Board for approval. Nor did the Board make any subsequent attempt to ensure that 'stringent' guidlines were put in place. It then transpired that the guidelines allowed for the spraying of individuals who were already restrained or handcuffed. In the very first incident where CS spray was used in Derry, in July 2004, the victim was handcuffed and then sprayed at close range in the face by a number of officers. Growing concern surrounding the frequency of use in this area eventually led to the public statement by a DPP member that the Ombudsman would investigate each and every use. It also emerged that an PSNI officer had been suspended. The admission that the Ombudsman is not now investigating each use is clearly a matter of concern.
"New" Plastic bullets to be issued on June 21 - The A.E.P.
On June 21 the PSNI, with backing of the Policing Board, will introduce the new plastic bullet or 'Attenuating Energy Projectile' into operational service. At a recent meeting of the Policing Board held in Derry the PFC highlighted the fact that the new generation of plastic bullets had been approved at a closed meeting of the Board, without proper consultation and with only three members of the Board, the three SDLP members, voting against the new bullet. Three others including Board Chairman Des Rea and Vice Chair Denis Bradley abstained in the vote. The fact that the latter refused to vote against the new weapon given his own admission that he knew families who had lost children through plastic bullets has deeply disappointed many people in Derry and beyond. Twelve other members of the Board voted in favour of the new projectile.
Oversight commissioners report
The latest report of the Oversight Commissioner (whose remit is to oversee and report on implementation of the Patten recommendations on policing) is available at www.oversightcommissioner.org. All 13 reports are available online.
New Public Prosecution Service Launched
The new Public Prosecution Service was launched in Belfast this week to replace the highly controversial Department of Public Prosecutions. The new PPS was one of the recommendations of the Criminal Justice Review which itself emerged from the Good Friday Agreement. Of 294 recommendations in the review 49 related to prosecutions. The new service will take over all prosecutions in the future. Until now the PSNI made prosecutorial decisions in minor cases. The PFC made a substantial submission to the Criminal Justice Review in a document that was highly critical of the then Department of Public Prosecutions. The submission is available on the PFC website.
Regrettably the new PPS will be headed by Sir Alasdair Fraser, Director of the Department of Public Prosecutions from 1989 to 2005. He is only the second person to have held the post since the office of the DPP was created in 1972 and was already an Assistant Director by 1974. As such he is part of the old guard. A new prosecution service requires a new director if confidence is to be created in the new structure.