Chief Constable announces independent probe of journalist surveillance claims
Northern Ireland's chief constable has announced an independent review to look at allegations of the police surveillance of journalists.
It comes after an Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) hearing in London sparked alarm.
The hearing was during an ongoing case examining allegations that investigative reporters Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney were subject to unlawful covert intelligence.
Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said he has appointed Angus McCullough KC to conduct an independent review of any PSNI use of surveillance against journalists, lawyers and non-governmental organisations.
Mr Boutcher also said he wanted to comment on what he termed an "inaccurate interpretation" of documents in the IPT.
He said a "defensive operation" referred to a routine professional standards practice in terms of potential leaking of information to media.
He said the PSNI's Professional Standards Department Anti-Corruption Unit have methods including, carrying out periodic checks on phone calls made from police telephone extensions and police-issued mobile phones.
"The numbers called are checked against the numbers held by PSNI for journalists. There is nothing covert about this procedure," he said.
"The journalists' numbers are either ones that are publicly available or are ones that the journalists have themselves supplied to PSNI as contact numbers.
"If an unexplained call is discovered, PSD send an email to the user of the PSNI extension, asking for an explanation.
"To further reassure people, this practice is absolutely not about identifying whistle-blowers, for which there are very clear legal protections for those who are motivated to make public interest disclosures. However, if a police officer or staff member is involved in serious criminality, we have a duty to the public to investigate this."
He also said a list of eight redacted names referred to are not the names of journalists being targeted through surveillance, and "relate to a completely different matter. The names are not those of journalists”.
A public report will be provided on completion of the review.