Angus McCullough’s assessment: A reckoning for the PSNI – and for press freedom
On Wednesday, Angus McCullough KC will publish a report that guarantees to be one of the consequential examinations of policing and press freedom in Northern Eire for a era.
Commissioned by the Police Service of Northern Eire (PSNI) and charged with analyzing allegations that journalists, legal professionals and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had been subjected to illegal surveillance, the McCullough Evaluation arrives unusually shortly: it was arrange in June 2024 and – unusually for a probe of this sensitivity – accomplished inside 10 months of the closure of the proof submissions window.
That pace, coupled with an openness from the reviewer that has been placing, has heightened expectations that the report won’t merely tick bins however set out a transparent pathway to accountability.
McCullough’s is just not an institution cipher
McCullough himself is just not an institution cipher. A senior barrister with a background as a particular advocate, he has lengthy expertise of circumstances involving delicate materials and nationwide safety points.
He has been unusually accessible to the press and to witnesses. That transparency has inspired many who may in any other case have been reticent to come back ahead. For these of us whose lives and work fall throughout the assessment’s phrases of reference, his willingness to pay attention has been each encouraging and, frankly, unprecedented.
Why does this matter? The allegations usually are not summary. They comply with a string of high-profile findings and authorized challenges, which present that the policing of journalistic sources and personal communications has generally strayed throughout the road between legit intelligence gathering and illegal intrusion.
Current tribunal judgments – and reporting on covert operations authorised in 2018 – have already criticised earlier PSNI authorisations and raised severe questions on directed surveillance and the lawfulness of police ways. The McCullough Evaluation is meant to look at whether or not such practices persevered, how they had been authorised, and whether or not safeguards failed.
PSNI chief pledged to deal with previous failures
There’s additionally an institutional backdrop that should not be ignored. The PSNI has a brand new management dynamic: chief constable Jon Boutcher, appointed in late 2023, has publicly pledged to deal with previous failings and to simply accept unbiased scrutiny.
The assessment’s existence and the chief constable’s acknowledged willingness to attract a line underneath illegal practices are, on paper, an actual check of institutional reform. How far phrases might be matched by systemic change is the query McCullough might be anticipated to reply.
My very own expertise – and why I’m watching this report carefully – is simple. In March, a whistleblower contacted the Belfast Telegraph alleging that a lot of journalists, myself included, had been the topic of illegal PSNI surveillance. On the time, I used to be investigating the tragic and still-mysterious dying of 14-year-old Noah Donohoe in north Belfast in 2020.
PSNI monitored social media
It was reported by the paper that the PSNI monitored my social media accounts whereas I used to be getting ready confidential materials for the coroner’s inquest; the power denied involvement in a separate incident wherein my automobile was damaged into at Heathrow in November 2024 and confidential papers had been rifled via, although valuables had been left behind.
I raised each the surveillance and the break-in with the reviewer after his proof deadline closed, and he nonetheless agreed to notice the issues raised by me and the whistleblower.
I can’t declare that the report will resolve the automobile incident or reply the deeper questions of whether or not there was any illegal or unethical surveillance of me, however I can say that the assessment’s entry to police information and personnel offers it the capability to reply broader questions on who authorised what, and whether or not covert traces of inquiry had been correctly recorded and supervised.
Questions McCullough should reply
There are a number of traces the assessment should pursue whether it is to be judged strong. First, it should hint authorisations: who signed off directed surveillance and on what foundation, and had been these authorisations lawful and proportionate?
Second, it should reveal whether or not surveillance instruments and methods – together with information mining instruments and social media monitoring – had been used inside authorized and coverage parameters.
Investigations by Pc Weekly counsel that instruments exist that may sweep up huge troves of communications information; unbiased scrutiny wants to determine whether or not their use was topic to acceptable oversight.
Third, the assessment should tackle the tradition that enables so-called “off-the-books” exercise to flourish if, in truth, it has. Proof of rogue or casual operations by officers or employees – persistently denied by the PSNI – might be a check of the reviewer’s entry and nerve.
Strain from a number of instructions
There might be strain on McCullough from a number of instructions. The general public – and people immediately implicated – will demand significant cures and safeguards.
Consultant our bodies such because the Nationwide Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Amnesty Worldwide have already signalled how excessive the stakes are: illegal surveillance of journalists damages not solely particular person rights however the public’s capability to carry energy to account.
Conversely, the PSNI and its management will argue for the operational requirements of tackling crime and defending sources.
The nub of McCullough’s job is to reconcile these competing imperatives and suggest constructions that enable lawful policing with out chilling civil liberties.
Will McCullough actually carry change?
What ought to readers anticipate on Wednesday? A measure of candour, I hope – and sensible suggestions. McCullough has the authority to entry police information, present employees and former officers; he can map the authorized and procedural gaps that allowed surveillance to overreach. There’ll, undoubtedly, be stunning particulars for individuals who have lengthy suspected a sample of intrusive apply.
However the final check might be implementation. Will the PSNI, the Policing Board and oversight our bodies translate findings into change – not least clearer guidelines about social media monitoring, higher audit trails for surveillance authorisations, and stronger protections for journalists, legal professionals and NGOs?
For these of us who’ve challenged the PSNI, who’ve requested awkward questions and sought to carry the power to account, the assessment is just not an finish in itself however a doable turning level.
Evaluations usually disappoint. But this one might break that sample: a brief timetable, an open reviewer and a power underneath new management create the circumstances for one thing greater than a report that gathers mud.
If Angus McCullough KC can present not solely what went improper, however tips on how to repair it – and if the PSNI acts on these prescriptions – then Wednesday’s publication will mark the beginning of reform, not merely one other inquiry into previous failures.
If it doesn’t, then we might be left with yet one more paper promise and an emboldened establishment. Both approach, the general public, the press and the courts will now have the info to guage.
Donal MacIntyre is an investigative journalist.
