The PSNI in Derry has suspended an officer after CS spray was recently used during two disturbances in the city. The PSNI and the Police Ombudsman, Mrs Nuala O'Loan, are separately investigating the incidents.
The spray was used twice by police officers to quell trouble involving youths in Derry on Saturday. It was employed when a man was attacked in a car park near Victoria Street and later when fighting broke out among youths at Waterloo Place.
Police are permitted to use CS spray in certain situations, although all uses of the spray are investigated by the Police Ombudsman. It is unusual that a police officer would be suspended pending the Ombudsman's inquiry. The PSNI would not disclose the circumstances behind its own internal inquiry nor explain why the officer was suspended.
CS spray was used eight times in Derry since its introduction in the summer, but only 11 times in the rest of Northern Ireland, leading to complaints of over-use in Derry.
Local SDLP Assembly member Mr Pat Ramsey, who led a party delegation to the city's Strand Road police station to discuss concerns about the use of CS spray, said the police commander had promised to review its use.
"Clearly, as a result of our meeting, they made it clear they would examine existing levels and why there is more use in Derry as a region than in Belfast," he said. The suspension of the officer was strong evidence that the new policing arrangements were working, he added.
Derry Sinn Féin councillor Mr Paul Fleming said CS spray must be withdrawn and claimed the SDLP had acquiesced to its use.
"We have seen in most occasions where it has been used in Derry that it has been misused and that the side effects are quite dangerous.
"The people of Derry have no confidence in the PSNI investigating themselves in private or that the Policing Board can hold them to account."