Post by earl on Nov 5, 2007 12:50:56 GMT
The North's outgoing Police Ombudsman lost the confidence of serving and retired officers, rank-and-file members said today.
Nuala O'Loan's seven-year term in office ends today after investigating alleged police collusion, killings and the inquiry into the 1998 dissident republican Omagh bomb which killed 29 people.
The Police Federation has been vocal in its criticism of the watchdog and a spokesman said they were looking to the future.
"Mrs O'Loan has never been able to accept that at times she got things wrong," he said.
"She gradually lost the confidence of the serving and retired officers during her tenure in office."
He said he hoped the new Ombudsman, Canadian Al Hutchinson, the former police oversight commissioner for the North, would be supported across the community and by the police itself.
The watchdog was appointed as part of the shake-up of the police force recommended by the 1999 report by Lord Patten.
Today Mrs O'Loan told the BBC that her job had been difficult at times, particularly after former Royal Ulster Constabulary Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan criticised her Omagh probe.
"I am a human being and I have been affected by things like the attacks on my children," she said.
"I was distressed by Sir Ronnie's response to the Omagh report.
"But a job has to be done and you don't desist from doing a job because people are trying to divert you from the job by attacking you personally or attacking your family personally."
She defended her reputation among police officers and maintained that her work had been evidence-based.
She added: "Although it's been tough, I am hugely glad I had the opportunity."
Mrs O'Loan started work in summer 2000 and has maintained a high profile.
In one recent report she said police had colluded in several loyalist murders in north Belfast.
Among those investigated was that of Raymond McCord Jnr, a 22-year-old member of the Ulster Volunteer Force with some involvement in drugs, who was beaten to death in November 1997.
In 2002 the Ombudsman launched a scathing report on the Royal Ulster Constabulary's handling of the Omagh inquiry.
The Real IRA was blamed for the massacre, but Mrs O'Loan focused on a series of alleged failings by police. She revealed that, 11 days before the bombing, an anonymous caller gave police details of a planned gun and rocket attack in Omagh.
Michael Gallagher, whose son, Aidan, died in the Omagh blast, paid tribute to her courage.
"She has had to pay an unacceptable price for the courage that she has shown and I think, when the final definitive history of the Troubles is written, she will be one of the few who held high office who have come out of this with extreme credibility," he said.
"She is one of the few that was truthful and honest and courageous."
Nuala O'Loan's seven-year term in office ends today after investigating alleged police collusion, killings and the inquiry into the 1998 dissident republican Omagh bomb which killed 29 people.
The Police Federation has been vocal in its criticism of the watchdog and a spokesman said they were looking to the future.
"Mrs O'Loan has never been able to accept that at times she got things wrong," he said.
"She gradually lost the confidence of the serving and retired officers during her tenure in office."
He said he hoped the new Ombudsman, Canadian Al Hutchinson, the former police oversight commissioner for the North, would be supported across the community and by the police itself.
The watchdog was appointed as part of the shake-up of the police force recommended by the 1999 report by Lord Patten.
Today Mrs O'Loan told the BBC that her job had been difficult at times, particularly after former Royal Ulster Constabulary Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan criticised her Omagh probe.
"I am a human being and I have been affected by things like the attacks on my children," she said.
"I was distressed by Sir Ronnie's response to the Omagh report.
"But a job has to be done and you don't desist from doing a job because people are trying to divert you from the job by attacking you personally or attacking your family personally."
She defended her reputation among police officers and maintained that her work had been evidence-based.
She added: "Although it's been tough, I am hugely glad I had the opportunity."
Mrs O'Loan started work in summer 2000 and has maintained a high profile.
In one recent report she said police had colluded in several loyalist murders in north Belfast.
Among those investigated was that of Raymond McCord Jnr, a 22-year-old member of the Ulster Volunteer Force with some involvement in drugs, who was beaten to death in November 1997.
In 2002 the Ombudsman launched a scathing report on the Royal Ulster Constabulary's handling of the Omagh inquiry.
The Real IRA was blamed for the massacre, but Mrs O'Loan focused on a series of alleged failings by police. She revealed that, 11 days before the bombing, an anonymous caller gave police details of a planned gun and rocket attack in Omagh.
Michael Gallagher, whose son, Aidan, died in the Omagh blast, paid tribute to her courage.
"She has had to pay an unacceptable price for the courage that she has shown and I think, when the final definitive history of the Troubles is written, she will be one of the few who held high office who have come out of this with extreme credibility," he said.
"She is one of the few that was truthful and honest and courageous."