The Five Demands

E’ stata oggi respinta, dalla Corte di Appello di Belfast, una rivendicazione giuridica di agenti di polizia che hanno accusato il RUC, di essere responsabile della sindrome da stress post traumatico da cui sono afflitti.
I poliziotti sono stati coinvolti in anni di operazioni anti-terrorismo che hanno visto la morte o il ferimento di molti dei loro colleghi, da parte di uomini armati o in attentati.
Un totale di 5.500 ufficiali del Royal Ulster Constabulary, si sono uniti in gruppo d’azione sostenendo che la gestione non è riuscita a trattare la malattia in modo adeguato.
Il giudice Paul Girvan ha affermato che non è stato possibile concludere, sulla base delle prove per ogni singolo caso, che l’esito sarebbe potuto essere differente nel caso il RUC avesse perseguito una politica diversa in materia di formazione e di istruzione.

Court rejects RUC stress action (The Irish Times)
A legal claim by police officers over post-traumatic stress caused by the conflict in Northern Ireland was dismissed by the Court of Appeal today. A total of 5,500 Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers took a group action alleging their management had failed to treat the disorder adequately. The policemen were involved in years of anti-terrorism operations which saw many of their colleagues killed or injured at the hands of gunmen or bombers. Belfast Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Paul Girvan was reviewing an earlier decision in the High Court. His office said: “Lord Justice Girvan … said that it could not be concluded that the chief constable’s (currently Sir Hugh Orde) failure to provide training and education to officers to identify signs and symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to enable them to trigger a referral to the occupational health unit or to other medical advice was a breach of his duty of care to individual officers.” The court heard the RUC had established the occupational health unit and taken forward stress awareness training for the whole force, albeit with limited coverage of methods of delivery. The Court spokeswoman added: “Lord Justice Girvan said it was not possible to conclude on the evidence for any given individual that the outcome of that person’s case would probably have been different if the RUC had pursued a different policy on training and education. The Court went on to consider appeals by the officers in the five lead or specimen cases, all five were dismissed.