Ronnie Flanagan

Sir Ronald Flanagan (born 25 March 1949) is a retired senior Northern Irish police officer. He was the Home Office Chief Inspector of Constabulary for the United Kingdom excluding Scotland. Flanagan was previously the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) since its creation in 2001 to 2002, and had been Chief Constable of its predecessor, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) until 2001.

Career Born in Belfast, Flanagan joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in 1970 while studying physics at The Queen's University of Belfast. He served his first three years in the Queen Street Barracks before achieving the rank of sergeant and transferring to the Castlereagh station. He was promoted to Inspector in 1976. In 1982, he became a Detective Inspector in the Special Branch and was promoted the following year to Chief Inspector.

In 1990, he took on the role of Chief Superintendent and transferred to the Police Staff College in Bramshill where he was the First Director of the Intermediate Command Course, progressing to the Senior Command Course. a post he held for almost two years until he succeeded Lord Condon as chairman of the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption & Security Unit (ACSU).

2007 Police Ombudsman Report On 22 January 2007, a report by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Nuala O'Loan, made findings of collusion between members of the proscribed paramilitary organisation, the Ulster Volunteer Force, and officers under the command of Flanagan. The reports were acknowledged by the then Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Orde, who apologised for the wrongdoing of his officers, and by the then British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain.

“While I appreciate that it cannot redress some of the tragic consequences visited upon the families of those touched by the incidents investigated in this report, I offer a whole-hearted apology for anything done or left undone." – Hugh Orde

Flanagan denied any wrongdoing or acting with any knowledge of the events in question. He agreed that these events had taken place. In the aftermath of the ombudsman's report, Irish nationalist politicians said he should be forced to resign from his job as Chief Inspector of Constabulary.

The Police Ombudsman had criticised Flanagan's role in the RUC inquiry into the Omagh Bombing of 1998, in a report published in 2001, to which his response was that he would "publicly commit suicide" if he believed her report was correct, though he later apologised for the form of words he used.

Appearance before the Chilcot Inquiry In July 2010, Flanagan appeared before the Iraq Inquiry into the UK's role in the Iraq War. In 2005, he had conducted a review into the UK's contribution to policing reform in Iraq. As he gave evidence, Flanagan had to apologise for the number of acronyms in his report on Iraq, which was presented to the government in January 2006:"In my view, and I would like to almost apologise for the number of acronyms in this report – but it wasn't written with a view to being read publicly. It was written for the people who invented the acronyms..."

Honours

Officer, 1996