Procedural Justice and Co-operation: a case study of the Office of the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland

Abstract In 2000, the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (OPONI) took over the police complaints system to help build public confidence by investigating complaints against the police, if made within 12 months. Within months, in an act of strategic agency, the Ombudsman decided to investigate complaints about policing dating back to 1968. This dislocated the expectation that OPONI would deal with complaints about policing post the 1998 peace agreement. Since a problematic relationship has developed between OPONI and retired police officers (RPO), marked by OPONI complaints about RPO’s unwillingness to co-operate and RPO complaining of being treated unfairly. Of interest to this study is how OPONI’s practice of procedural fairness affects its production of moral legitimacy and RPOs willingness to co-operate.