Minutes:
(The High Sheriff (Councillor Long) withdrew from the meeting during consideration of this item, on the basis that the Committee was proposing, as part of its decision, to write to his wife, the Justice Minister.)
The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 19th February, it had considered correspondence from the Police Service of Northern Ireland in response to a motion which had been passed by the Council on 7th January on the policing of Black Lives Matter Demonstrations in Belfast and Londonderry on 6th June, 2020.
The response had stated that the policing of the pandemic had created difficulties for the Police Service, in the balancing of rights and had accepted that errors had been made. It had stated also that the withdrawal of Fixed Penalty Notices was not possible, due to the absence of any statutory power to do so.
The City Solicitor explained that he had, at that meeting, identified a potential issue with the Police Service’s response, in that the extent of its powers appeared to have been misconstrued. He drew the Members’ to the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) Act 1954, which stated that, if an authority was empowered to do something, all powers necessary or incidental to that power were also conferred, even if not expressly referred to in the legislation under which that power had been given. That would, in this case, include a power to withdraw Fixed Penalty Notices.
Accordingly, the Council, at its meeting on 1st March, had authorised him to commission legal advice in relation to the issue which he had identified. The resulting Counsel opinion had concurred with his position, in that the Police Service had the power to withdraw Fixed Penalty Notices. Furthermore, it had confirmed that the Public Prosecution Service should take into account the public interest and any change in circumstances and had noted that the Magistrates’ Court was empowered to set aside fines when it was in the interest of justice to do so.
Councillor Michael Collins, who was in attendance, welcomed the Counsel opinion and expressed concern that the Police Service had misinterpreted its powers in relation to Fixed Penalty Notices during the two demonstrations on 6th June, 2020. He referred to the fact that the Police Ombudsman’s report had found that the actions of the Police Service on that day had been discriminatory and highlighted the disproportionately higher level of fines which had been imposed on those from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic background since the introduction of the Coronavirus Regulations in Northern Ireland. He concluded by inviting the Committee to write to the Police Service of Northern Ireland informing it of the Counsel opinion and requesting it to withdraw all of the Fixed Penalty Notices which it had issued at the Black Lives Matter Demonstrations on 6th June, 2020, and to write also to the Justice Minister and to the Minister of Health.
After discussion, the Committee agreed:
i. to write to the Police Service of Northern Ireland enclosing Counsel opinion and calling upon it, in the context of that opinion, to revisit the Council’s motion of 7th January requesting:
a.) that all Fixed Penalty Notices be rescinded and that prosecutions against Black Lives Matter activists relating to the protests on 6th June, 2020 be abandoned; and
b.) that the Police Service exercise its discretion and withdraw or rescind applications made to the courts for registration of the Fixed Penalty Notices; and
ii. to write to the Minister of Health, the Justice Minister and the Northern Ireland Executive’s Adherence Group making them aware of the Council motion, the Police Service’s response and the subsequent Counsel opinion.