PSNI data breaches: Officer says he will leave Northern Ireland

Police officers in Northern Ireland often keep their occupation secret due to fear of attack

A police officer has said he is moving his family out of Northern Ireland after two data breaches revealed the identities of officers and staff.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) accidentally shared details of 10,000 employees this week. It also confirmed an earlier breach from July.

The officer, who is a Catholic, said deciding to go had been "devastating".

Meanwhile, a civilian PSNI worker said it brought back the trauma police staff had experienced during the Troubles.

Both interviewees spoke to the BBC about the effect the data breaches are having on their personal lives, but neither is named for security reasons.

The PSNI officer said he had to calculate the family upset that would be caused by uprooting his children from their home against the safety risks of staying in Northern Ireland.

"My wife feels she is no longer comfortable in Northern Ireland," he told BBC News NI's Evening Extra programme.

"It's just not a place, going forward, that I have confidence or trust in any more - it's been absolutely disastrous."

In the biggest data breach, information appeared online for three hours on Tuesday, leading to the PSNI updating security advice to its officers and staff.

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The surname and first initial of every employee, their rank or grade, where they are based and the unit they work in, including sensitive areas such as surveillance and intelligence, were included.

Information about the second data breach, involving the theft of a spreadsheet with the names of 200 officers and staff, emerged on Wednesday.

The PSNI said documents, along with a police-issue laptop and radio, were believed to have been stolen from a private vehicle in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, on 6 July.

The police have since confirmed they have wiped both of those devices remotely and are confident that information they contained would not be accessible by a third party.

Almost 2,000 officers are considering taking legal action in the wake of the breaches, according to the Police Federation, a union which represents rank-and-file officers.

More than 1,200 staff have raised concerns about the security breaches with the PSNI.

During the 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles, more than 300 police officers from all backgrounds were murdered.

The civilian PSNI worker spoke to the BBC anonymously

They face an ongoing threat from dissident republican paramilitaries - the latest attempt to murder a PSNI officer took place in February when Det Ch Insp John Caldwell was shot several times.

Catholic officers have often been targeted by dissidents, who want to discourage people from Catholic backgrounds from joining the police.

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne cut his holiday short to deal with the crisis and he has apologised for the data breaches.

'Gauntlet of emotions'

The civilian PSNI employee, who is a member of the Nipsa union, said she had been "going through a gauntlet of emotions" since being made aware of the data breaches.

The woman also worked for the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) for many years before it was replaced by the PSNI in 2001.

"I've spent a very long career with a threat over my head - police staff are under the same threat as police officers," she said.

"I've been involved in a few security incidents that could have had severe consequences and I think that, for me personally, the anxiousness and the nervousness of what this data breach is or could do has brought it all back."

She added it had brought back recollections of the Troubles in the 1980s including "security threats, bombings... colleagues who've been murdered" and anxiety associated with those experiences.

The woman said the breach was "highly traumatic" for younger staff who had not experienced working during the Troubles.

"It's probably something that our newer colleagues into the organisation have never dealt with and therefore I think maybe that tension for them is maybe a bit higher than those of us who have worked here longer," she said.

Supt Gerry Murray, chair of the Catholic Police Guild, has met the chief constable over the breaches

The Catholic Police Guild, which represents some Catholic PSNI members, said the PSNI must take account of the "particular sensitivities" of Catholic members.

Its chairman, Supt Gerry Murray, met the chief constable on Friday.

Mr Byrne, who also met representatives from the PSNI's other staff associations, said afterwards he had reassured the guild that he was committed to supporting everyone affected.

Earlier Supt Murray said he had received a call from a young Catholic officer concerned about the data breaches who asked him if he should take his gun to Mass on Sunday.

Asked on BBC NI's Newsline programme if he thought the officer should bring his gun to Mass, Supt Murray responded: "I think, if he feels insecure with regard to going to his place of worship and he feels it necessary - yes."

"It's about the protection of the officer. It's about his wellbeing."

'Monumental cock up'

Dissident republicans have claimed they have obtained the data mistakenly shared, but the PSNI said it had not been able to verify this.

An ex-officer whose husband is still in the force told the BBC the breach was a "monumental cock up" which has "floored" her family.

The woman left the police due to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from incidents experienced in the course of her job.

She said she could not sleep after news broke about the data breaches, and that her medication had been increased.

Chief Constable Simon Byrne said he had spoken to officers and staff and realised some were anxious, frustrated and angry

"I served for many, many years in some volatile areas and took my personal safety very seriously. Even to this day I still check under my car," she said.

"We were always looking over our shoulder but now even more so. I didn't sleep on Tuesday night. I really wasn't very good at all.

"I had to go back to my doctor - they prescribed me more diazepam.

"It's just the impact - all of a sudden I feel like I'm back in the job again and that really isn't good for me."

'I feel exposed'

Another serving officer told the BBC's Today programme he felt let down by the PSNI, exposed and vulnerable.

The officer, who is originally from England, said that with access to his surname, "it wouldn't take much to track myself or my wife and children down".

"If it gets into the hands of [dissident republicans], then that's where the most damage will be caused," he said.

The officer said he also suffered with PTSD and since news of the data breaches his symptoms, including sleepless nights, paranoia and anxiety, had worsened.

Nipsa representative Tracey Godfrey said members were seeking reassurance from her.

"I am able to give that because processes have been put in place but it's the long-term effect that we are having to look at," she said.

You can hear the interview with the officer in full on Evening Extra on BBC Sounds.