PSNI data breach so serious the chief constable should step down: Jim Allister

The TUV leader said Simon Byrne had already lost the confidence of many people over his handling of previous events, and that his resignation “would provoke few tears”.

Now, the force is facing an unprecedented crisis as it attempts to carry out urgent risk assessments on 10,000 employees.

The most serious data breach occurred last Tuesday when, in response to a routine Freedom of Information (FoI) request, the PSNI published the name, role, location and shift pattern of every officer and civilian employee online for almost three hours.

It was then revealed that a list of 200 employees, a laptop and a police radio had been taken from an officer’s private vehicle in Newtownabbey on July 6, and that there was a delay in notifying both the relevant police department and the persons whose data had been compromised.

Mr Allister said: “The facts are clear: the chief constable presided over a system for handling FoIs which resulted in the security of every officer and civilian staff being compromised, not in some nebulous way but to the benefit of the murder machine that is the IRA. The issue could hardly be more serious. Thus, he should go.”

Referring back to incidents in June 2020 and February 2021 respectively, Mr Allister said: “For me and many others we lost confidence in this chief constable the day he surrendered the streets of west Belfast to the Provos for the funeral of arch-terrorist [Bobby] Storey.

“He confirmed his susceptibility to republican pressure when he overreached in summarily dealing with two probationary constables over the Ormeau Road Covid incident, demonstrating that placating Sinn Fein was more important than acting fairly towards his officers.

“So, his resignation would provoke few tears, nor create a vacuum as that is why we have deputies and assistant chief constables.”

Also commenting yesterday, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson played down any suggestions that Mr Byrne should consider his position at this time.

Sir Jeffrey said that although the data breach could undermine the ability of the police and security services to keep tabs on dissident republicans, he would “suspend judgement” on the chief constable for the time being.

Mr Byrne said on Monday he believes the information mistakenly released is in the hands of dissident republicans.

Sir Jeffrey told BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme: “Well I certainly think that confirmation that dissident republicans have this data raises the security threat to an even higher level. It’s not just the security of those officers, their families and the staff, but it’s also the security infrastructure itself.

“This data included very sensitive information about the PSNI’s work with the security service in Northern Ireland and of course it’s been the success of the security service and the PSNI in infiltrating dissident republicans that has minimised their ability to operate effectively in Northern Ireland.

“I’m very concerned that not only is there a risk to the lives of those serving with the police … but this may also undermine the capacity of the police and the security service to keep tabs on the dissident republicans who of course pose the major threat in Northern Ireland.”

In relation to calls for the chief constable’s resignation, Sir Jeffrey said: “I don’t want to leave the PSNI leaderless at this stage. I think it is important that the chief constable oversees at this stage of the process because that leadership is necessary to ensure stability within the PSNI.”

Former Stormont justice minister and Alliance leader Naomi Long has warned the data leak will have serious consequences.

She told ‘Today’: “This is going to have long-term ramifications at many levels. It also has, I think, serious consequences in terms of retention and recruitment.

“Police already face an extraordinary level of threat, as do staff members ... and now their details … are out in the public domain and it was inevitable that they would fall into the wrong hands once they had been published.”

The PSNI declined to comment.