The North’s Chief Constable is to face questions from a Westminster committee next month on the major PSNI data leaks in which personal and employment details of police officers and civilian staff were mistakenly published online.
Announcing its investigation on Friday, the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee said it would also examine other incidents in which personal data was lost which have since come to light, including the loss of a police officer’s laptop and notebook containing details of 42 officers and staff which fell from a moving vehicle last week.
MPs will question the Chief Constable, Simon Byrne, and Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd “on the process to protect such information and why it failed in the run-up to the leak.”
The committee will also hear from other bodies, including the Policing Board and the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, “on the impact of the breach on morale in the service and the concerns of and consequences for frontline officers and backroom staff”.
On August 8th the PSNI mistakenly released the surname, first initial and employment details – including where they work and their department – of every serving police officer and civilian member of staff alongside a response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request.
Last week the Chief Constable confirmed the details were now in the hands of dissident republicans after a section of the data – several A4 pages – appeared on a wall opposite the Sinn Féin office on the Falls Road in west Belfast.
Earlier this week 50-year-old Christopher Paul O’Kane, from Main Street in Feeny, Co Derry, appeared in court charged with possessing documents or records likely to be useful to terrorists and the possession of two mobile phones for use in terrorism following the leak.
On Tuesday the Policing Board announced an “independently led end-to-end review” had been jointly commissioned by the board and the PSNI to investigate the data breaches.
It is expected to deliver an initial report within one month, with the final report due by the end of November.
The chair of the Policing Board, Deirdre Toner, told reporters following the announcement that the Chief Constable “retains the confidence” of the board.
