Councillors criticise PSNI for treatment of domestic violence survivor

The PSNI has been heavily criticised by all parties on Derry City and Strabane District Council for the conduct of a number officers involved in investigating a domestic violence case.

Speaking at October’s full Council meeting, Cllr Catherine McDaid (SDLP) referred to the Monday’s report that “police officers here had received advice to improve their conduct following an incident where they were speaking about a victim of domestic abuse”.

“I wanted to express my concern and my anger,” said Cllr McDaid.

“We know how difficult it is for someone to report any domestic abuse and that it usually only happens when things are at an absolute crisis point,” she added.

“This lady was at her most vulnerable and the very least that she deserved was to be treated with respect and support, not to be openly mocked by those that were supposed to be there to protect her.

“For the recommendations made by the Police Ombudsman to be ignored and three of the officers just given advice to improve their conduct and only one facing a misconduct meeting that was recommended, begs the question about how serious the PSNI is about violence against women and girls.

“I appreciate this is only a few officers and it doesn’t reflect the whole organisation, however, I would argue that by reducing the consequences that the officers faced, it allows others to think that they might get away with something similar.

“We often talk about ways we can end violence and reduce conscious and unconscious misogyny. One way is calling out inappropriate or offensive language, even if it feels like it is maybe tongue in cheek or colloquial,” said Cllr McDaid.

Cllr McDaid highlighted that at the start of 2025, the PSNI, the Department of Justice, and the Executive Office had launched their ‘Power To Change’ campaign.

This was aimed at teaching and supporting boys and young men to check and change their behaviours towards women and girls.

Cllr McDaid said it was “extremely disappointing this campaign doesn’t appear to be actually driven within the PSNI structures”.

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“The culture remains that officers feel safe enough to use derogatory language about victims,” said Cllr McDaid.

“It feels a wee bit like lip service to me. Domestic abuse is massively under reported and unfortunately it often ends in real threat to life or actual murder. So, how does the PSNI think this will impact on the trust that people feel in coming forward in the future?” she added.

“I know some PSNI officers and they are incredible people that are compassionate and genuinely care about people. Unfortunately that doesn’t appear to be the case across the board and it is deeply disappointing that these few officers and how this case has been managed, will be yet another reason that the PSNI’s reputation is damaged and trust within the community will be further reduced.”