‘‘Whilst the Police Ombudsman’s Office has had time and space to examine the events on the Ormeau Road in granular detail, the officers who responded on that day were not afforded the same luxury and were simply trying to do their job in very challenging circumstances.
Their reward, of course, was to be thrown to the wolves by their superiors to pander to political pressure. Indeed, little in the way of sensitivity or compassion was shown to those individual officers, including those who were understood suffered injury.
The Schoffield judgement demonstrated that the opinions of senior members of Sinn Fein influenced decision-making at the highest ranks of the PSNI in the aftermath of these events. Nothing in the Ombudsman’s report can, or should, detract from this fundamental weakness in the police response. It is vital that the Chief Constable and his team put in place safeguards to ensure such mistakes are never be repeated.
Both the PPS and PSNI have rightly concluded that no action should be taken against any of the officers involved. The DUP hopes the publication of today’s report will allow each officer, and their families, to finally put these events behind them.’’