Ombudsman finds police use of baton rounds during Ballymena riots was ‘proportional'

Irish Post

03-07-2025

A REVIEW of the PSNI's response to the recent riots in Ballymena has found they showed 'considerable restraint' in the face of the violence aimed at them.
The Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland has assessed the use of 'Attenuating Energy Projectiles' (AEPs), known as baton rounds, during the public disorder which erupted in the Co. Antrim town last month.
In their report they concluded that police commanders showed 'considerable restraint' in their use of force during the incidents.
Police used AEPs 32 times on five dates to help control the disorder, with each incident subsequently assessed by Police Ombudsman investigators.
'Assessing the police use of force in response to the disorder required extensive work, including the review of more than 100 pieces of body worn video, amounting to more than 20 hours of footage,' Chief Executive of the Police Ombudsman's Office, Hugh Hume, said.
'It is clear from this evidence that police commanders did not authorise any use of force until all other options had been exhausted,' he explained.
'In the face of sustained and significant violence, which resulted in multiple police officers being injured, police showed considerable restraint and a consistent, proportionate response.'
Last month, the Police Ombudsman's office also confirmed that there were no grounds to open an investigation into the discharge of firearms by police officers during an incident in Bangor.
However, Mr Hume emphasised that every 'use of force' case is considered individually, and that two recent convictions of police officers demonstrates that those who misuse their powers will be held to account.
In the most recent case in April 2025, a former police officer's conviction for common assault was upheld on appeal, after an unwarranted use of PAVA spray, which is an irritant similar to pepper spray, during an arrest.
The case arose from an incident at a filling station in Coalisland when a man was stopped by police and told he was being searched under the Justice and Security Act. When the man challenged the police officers, he was arrested for disorderly behaviour.
Body worn video captured the arrest and showed that the police officer, Andrew Forde, who also had his baton drawn, sprayed the man with PAVA spray without warning, before handcuffing him and placing him in the back of a police car.
Forde was prosecuted and convicted following the Police Ombudsman investigation.
In 2024, a former police constable, David Dumican, was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm to a man during an incident in Lurgan in June 2018.
Dumican received a 15-month sentence, suspended for two years, after he struck the man on the head with a police baton with such force that he required emergency medical treatment and had to be placed into an induced coma.
'In many instances where we investigate use of force, we will identify appropriate responses and good practice on the part of police,' Mr Hume said.
'However, these prosecutions show that, when the force used is incompatible with applicable standards and potentially criminal, we will not hesitate to pursue those cases.
'These are examples of impartial, evidence-based investigation in action, which should provide reassurance to police officers that they can, and should, use force when it is appropriate and proportionate, while also contributing to building public confidence in policing,' Mr Hume added.
The Police Ombudsman received two complaints about use of force in the recent public disorder.
One, which concerned a member of the public being hit by AEPs, was closed as being without foundation.
A further complaint in which a member of the public alleges they were hit on the leg with a baton, remains open.
See More: Ballymena, Batons, Police Ombudsman For Northern Ireland, Riots