NCA takes on full powers
National Crime Agency officers are now able to fully support the PSNI, subject to detailed oversight arrangements.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has become fully operational in Northern Ireland after extensive negotiations about its role and accountability. Established by the Crime and Courts Act 2013, the NCA is a merger of:
• the Serious Organised Crime Agency;
• the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre;
• cross-border investigation teams (previously within the UK Border Agency); and
• the National Policing Improvement Agency’s operational teams (including investigations into missing persons).
Oversight arrangements, signed by Justice Minister David Ford and NCA Director-General Keith Bristow, took effect on 20 May. The agency was established in October 2013 and its powers had already covered non-devolved matters (e.g. illegal immigration).
An NCA officer will only be able to exercise his or her police powers in Northern Ireland with the agreement of the PSNI’s Chief Constable and after completing a training programme. These requirements will be waived where he or she is investigating the conduct of a PSNI officer.
The NCA officer will also be required to declare that he or she has read and understood the PSNI’s code of ethics and the agency’s formal agreements with the Policing Board, the PSNI and the Police Ombudsman. Disciplinary procedures for NCA officers operating in Northern Ireland will be amended “so far as practicable” to reflect the code of ethics and public complaints about their conduct will be investigated by the Police Ombudsman.
The Director-General can be summoned to Policing Board meetings. He will also be required to take the board’s policing plan into account and seek its prior consent when planning ahead for the NCA’s work in the region. The Police Ombudsman will investigate public complaints into NCA officers operating in Northern Ireland.
A motion to express the Assembly’s support for the oversight arrangements was passed in February by 68 votes to 26. This was tabled as private member’s business by DUP MLA Alastair Ross as Sinn Féin had objected to a formal legislative consent motion.
SDLP leader Alasdair McDonnell described the vote as “another Patten moment” and claimed credit for the extra oversight arrangements. McDonnell added: “Others in state agencies and governments must now decisively demonstrate that no-one and no organisation is ‘off-limits’ or protected or receiving a light touch when it comes to criminal assets.”
Sinn Féin maintains that the NCA undermines the Good Friday Agreement and that the PSNI is capable is tackling all crime in Northern Ireland. However, Chief Constable George Hamilton has stated that the agency brings “additional capacity and expertise … to help police officers keep people safe.”
