User talk:Ekilfeather/Nuala O'Loan(sandbox)

Nuala O'Loan the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland

Nuala O'Loan is the first Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland.

Previous Career

Nuala O'Loan is a qualified solicitor and was the Senior Lecturer holding the Jean Monnet Chair in European Law at the University of Ulster.

She has also been:

• Chairman of the Northern Ireland Consumer Committee for Electricity;
• A Member of the Police Authority;
• Vice-Chair of the Police Authority's Community Relation Committee;
• A Member of the Northern Health and Social Services Board;
• Convenor for Complaints for the Northern Health and Social Services Board;
• A Member of the General Consumer Council, and Convenor of the Transport and Energy Group of that Council; and
• A Legal Expert Member of the European Commission's Consumers Consultative Council.

For seven years, Nuala O'Loan was also a Lay Visitor to police stations. This meant that she could speak to people held in the cells, at any time of the day or night.

Nuala O'Loan is married and has five sons. She is a voluntary marriage counsellor, working particularly to prepare young people from different religions who are getting married.

Career as Ombudsman

Nuala O'Loan was appointed by the UK government to the post of Police Ombudsman in 1999 as a result of new legislation to regulate the behaviour of the police forces in Northern Ireland. This legislative process took place in the context of reforms instigated by the Good Friday Agreement.

In August 2001, she was charged with looking into police handling of the Omagh bombing in 1998. This terrorist attack left 31 dead including two unborn children. Her report found that the RUC had prior knowledge of an attack and it questioned the leadership of Northern Ireland's then Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan.

She has attracted both praise and criticism for her robust activity in investigating alleged abuses by officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). She has also served as a trusted intermediary in controversial cases involving alleged criminal activity by Irish Republicans. This role has come about because many Republicans do not yet recognise the PSNI as a legitimate and unbiased police service, and find it difficult to co-operate in its investigations.

A UK House of Commons Committee reported on the Police Ombudsman in 2005 and praised O'Loan, recommending that she be given wider powers. The same Committee acknowledged that the Office was not seen as impartial by the PSNI and its officers and urged that these concerns be addressed.

Awards

In 2003, the Annual Conference of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement presented O'Loan with an award for her contribution to police accountability.

References

• Report on Police Ombudsman by House of Commons Committee 2005

• BBC News report on Common's Committee accessed 29 June 2006

• Interview on the BBC Radio 4 from 2002

External links

• www.policeombudsman.org

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