Skip to content Accesskeys Newsroom

Complaints against the police

The Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland provides an independent impartial police complaints system for the people and the police of Northern Ireland.

Who can you make a complaint against?

The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland investigates complaints against:

  • Police Service of Northern Ireland
  • Belfast Harbour Police
  • Larne Harbour Police
  • Belfast International Airport Police
  • Ministry of Defence Police in Northern Ireland

What does the Police Ombudsman do?

The Police Ombudsman investigates complaints about the conduct of police officers and where appropriate makes recommendations in respect of criminal, disciplinary and misconduct matters.

The Police Ombudsman:

  • investigates matters of public interest and all grave and exceptional matters referred to him and reports as appropriate
  • publishes reports and makes policy recommendations aimed at improved policing within Northern Ireland
  • provides statistical reports for management purposes to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Justice Minister

How you can complain

You can do any one of the following:

  • call in at the Police Ombudsman’s office at:
    New Cathedral Buildings
    St Anne’s Square
    11 Church Street
    Belfast
    BT1 1PG
    From 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday. You do not need an appointment
  • write to the Police Ombudsman at the address given above
  • call in at your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau and they will tell you how to contact the Police Ombudsman
  • call in at your local police station.  They will not deal with your complaint, but they will refer it to the Police Ombudsman as soon as possible
  • contact your solicitor, who can tell the Police Ombudsman about your complaint
  • phone 0845 601 2931 or 028 9082 8600
  • fax 028 9082 8659
  • Email the Police Ombudsman
  • Complain to the Police Ombudsman online

How long do you have to complain

You must make your complaint within one year of the incident you are concerned about.

In special circumstances, complaints about things that happened more than a year before they are reported can be investigated.  These will be cases where:

  • there was a previous investigation, and the Police Ombudsman considers that your complaint is grave or exceptional or
  • there was a previous investigation, but there is now new evidence which was not available before, and the Police Ombudsman believes your complaint is grave or exceptional

What the Police Ombudsman will do about your complaint

  • they will arrange to take details of your complaint
  • after speaking to you, they will decide how we will deal with your complaint
  • they will tell you the name of the person responsible for dealing with your complaint and will give you as much information as they can at every stage of the complaints process

The Police Ombudsman’s decisions

When your complaint has been investigated, the Police Ombudsman may decide to do any of the following:

  • recommend to the Director of Public Prosecutions (the DPP) that the police officer should be prosecuted (it is for the DPP to decide whether they will prosecute the officer)
  • recommend that the Chief Constable should bring disciplinary proceedings against the officer involved - if the Police Ombudsman and the Chief Constable disagree about whether the police officer should be brought before a misconduct hearing, the Police Ombudsman can insist that the Chief Constable does so
  • recommend that disciplinary proceedings should be brought by the Policing Board if the officer you have complained about is an Assistant Chief Constable, a Deputy Chief Constable or the Chief Constable
  • recommend compensation (even if the Police Ombudsman recommends compensation, your solicitor will still tell you about any other legal rights you may have)
  • not uphold your complaint, for example, because there is not enough evidence to support it (you will be told the reasons for this decision)
  • the Police Ombudsman’s decision is final - however, if new information comes to light that you could not reasonably have known about, he may start a new investigation

More useful links

Do it online

Useful contacts