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Children’s Rights Cannot be an Afterthought for the PSNI

3 December 2024
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

03 December 2024

A new review of children and young people and policing, published by the NI Policing Board, has highlighted the scale of human rights breaches facing children and young people when in contact with the police.

The report highlights a range of issues of serious concern, repeatedly raised over many years by the Children’s Law Centre, including concerns around uses of force, misuse of police powers, the lack of disaggregated data, issues around arrest and custody arrangements, the practice of strip-searching children, the low age of criminal responsibility and much more.

The report represents the most substantive effort by the NI Policing Board to examine the human rights implications for children of policing practice in Northern Ireland in over a decade.

Fergal McFerran, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at the Children’s Law Centre commented on the report saying:

“This report clearly demonstrates that the foot has well and truly come off the pedal in terms of scrutiny of these issues over the last decade. As a result, when the PSNI should have been embedding human rights protections for children and young people in how they operate, they have instead regressed.

“Increased scrutiny over the last number of years, driven by the Children’s Law Centre and others, has highlighted a growing range of concerns, with children’s human rights too often looking like an afterthought, if at all.

“The Children’s Law Centre welcomes this attempt to catalogue the range of children’s rights issues and breaches. That includes efforts to highlight international obligations and best practice, as well as the views of children themselves. However, and worryingly, the range and seriousness of the challenges which exist are too often not reflected in the final recommendations.

“What is absolutely clear is that significant improvements in policing practices are urgently required. This includes getting back to the core of human rights centred policing, a change of attitude from police towards children and young people, and the need for the PSNI and others responsible for policing, to genuinely listen to the views and experiences of children and young people and act on the concerns they raise.”

Call to End ‘Dangerous’ Spit Hood Use Amid Fears Chief Constable Plans to Make them Permanent

15 June 2022
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

16 June 2022

Human rights and children’s organisations in Northern Ireland are calling on the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to stop the use of controversial spit hoods, also known as spit and bite guards, ahead of an expected move to make their use permanent.

Amnesty International, Children’s Law Centre, the Committee on the Administration of Justice and Include Youth say the continued use of spit and bite guards may be in breach of equality legislation and therefore be unlawful.

The mesh hoods, designed to be placed over detainees’ heads, were ‘temporarily’ introduced in March 2020 as an emergency Covid measure. But subsequently the chief constable backtracked, accepting there is no medical evidence that the hoods prevent the virus’s spread.

Image read: The introduction of spit and bite hoods. 1) Spit hoods 'temporarily' introduced as an emergency covid measure, despite lack of evidence; 2) Human rights and children's groups say spit hoods may be unlawful; 3) PSNI refusing to publish public consultation findings on the equality impact of spit hoods

The joint call comes a year after a public consultation on the spit hoods’ equality impact – the PSNI has so far refused to publish the findings. Previous equality screening data from the police shows a disproportionate use of spit hoods on people with disabilities and on people from a Catholic community background and also revealed their use on children.

According to PSNI data, between 16 March and 31 December 2020, spit hoods were used 84 times: 81% against people with a disability, including a mental health disability, and 48% against people from a Catholic community background compared to 20% against people from a Protestant community background.

A response to a subsequent freedom of information request by the Children’s Law Centre revealed that from 16 March 2020 to 11 November 2021, spit hoods were used 16 times on under-18s, despite a policy against their use on children.

Even though the Northern Ireland Policing Board recommended their immediate phasing out in its November 2020 report, Review of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Response to Covid 19,  PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne has instead expanded their use, issuing spit hoods to 4,000 additional police officers. The Policing Board has now called for the devices only to be used under stringent conditions.

In February 2022, the Policing Board published a review of their use, issuing 21 recommendations for the PSNI to adopt and implement. To date, the Chief Constable has not made clear whether the PSNI will adopt and implement any of the Policing Board’s recommendations.

Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland Programme Director of Amnesty International, said: “The Chief Constable rushed to deploy spit hoods with zero evidence that they prevent the transmission of Covid-19. Then he doubled down on that flawed decision, in defiance of the Policing Board, issuing them to thousands more officers. Now we fear that he is about to attempt to make their use a permanent feature of policing in Northern Ireland, despite the Policing Board’s and civil society groups’ serious human rights concerns.

“The police have not met the threshold for the necessity and proportionality for this type of use of force. Given serious concerns around potentially dangerous physical and mental impacts, particularly on vulnerable groups, spit hoods need to be withdrawn from use.”

Paddy Kelly, Director of the Children’s Law Centre, said: “The Children’s Law Centre is extremely concerned that spit and bite guards have been regularly applied to children since their introduction.  We are further alarmed at how little care has been taken to adhere to the PSNI’s own equality duties throughout the past number of years regarding their use.

“The PSNI introduced spit hoods without undertaking an equality impact assessment and have now failed to publish the equality impact assessment results a full year on from it being conducted. We believe their ongoing use is unlawful as well as being in breach of human rights obligations.

“Their use on children is even more concerning given that children who come in contact with police are more likely to have a disability, mental ill-health or a learning disability.  It is unclear how a police officer using a spit hood on a child can know if a child has a learning disability or suffers from serious mental ill health. Indeed, early analysis shows that protected groups are more likely to be adversely impacted by the practice. Their use should cease immediately.”

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Chief Constable criticised for spit hoods roll-out in defiance of policing board

4 March 2021
Sam Nelson
No comments
Categories: News

04 March 2021

The Children’s Law Centre, Amnesty International, CAJ and Include Youth wrote to Doug Garrett, chair of the Policing Board, ahead of their meeting on Thursday 4 March, to ask the Board what steps they are taking to ensure their clear recommendation that all spit hoods by withdrawn by the end of 2020 is followed.

In November 2020, the Northern Ireland Policing Board recommended their immediate phasing out in its report, Review of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Response to Covid 19.

Instead, PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne has started distributing spit hoods to 4,000 additional police officers.

New figures show that, to date, the PSNI has used spit hoods 95 times. They were used on children (aged 10 to 17) eight times.

In 81% of cases (68 out of 84 incidents) of their use by the PSNI in 2020, spit hoods were used on people with disabilities.

The figures have come to light in a document published as part of a PSNI equality impact assessment launched this week, almost a year after the introduction of the devices.

Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland Programme Director of Amnesty International, said:

“The decision to roll out spit hoods, rather than withdraw them from use as advised by the Policing Board, is shocking.

“It is disturbing that in more than eight out of ten incidents, the PSNI has used spit hoods on people with disabilities and, on eight occasions, on children.

“The Chief Constable rushed to deploy spit hoods without evidence that they are effective in preventing the transmission of Covid-19. Now he is doubling down on that flawed decision, in outright defiance of the Policing Board.

“Placing a hood over someone’s head is a significant use of force and one that raises key concerns over cruel and degrading treatment, as well as serious potential health risks.

“These devices must be withdrawn from use, as called for by the Policing Board.”

Paddy Kelly, Director of the Children’s Law Centre, said:

“The Children’s Law Centre are extremely concerned that eight spit and bite guards were applied to children during the last year. In the cases of one 16 year-old and one 15 year-old, two spit and bite guards were applied during the same incident. This use of force must have been a frightening experience for these children.

“Their use on children is even more concerning given that children who come in contact with police are more likely to have a disability, mental ill-health or a learning disability. A police officer using a spit hood on a child cannot know if a child has a learning disability or suffers from asthma.

“In the light of medical evidence that the use of spit and bite hoods may increase the risk of Covid-19 infection to both police and members of the public, there can be absolutely no justification for their use on children. Spit and bite guards should be withdrawn in compliance with the Policing Board’s report of November 2020.

“We and other civil society organisations have now written to the Policing Board to ask them what steps they are taking to ensure their clear recommendation that all spit hoods by withdrawn by the end of 2020 is followed.”