Threat of the Northern Ireland police data breach cannot be minimised

The leak of information about officers involved in fighting organised crime presents a grave risk, warns Kim Sengupta

Police don riot shields as nationalists and loyalists riot in Belfast in April 2021 (Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

The security threat cannot be minimised. Names and work details of every officer and civilian staff member in Northern Ireland’s police service, some working in the most sensitive areas, including with MI5, have been made public with the obvious risks that entails.

Details of more than 10,000 people, their names and ranks and work locations were inadvertently released in the one part of the United Kingdom where the terrorist threat levels have been raised from substantial to severe – which means that attacks are not only possible, but highly likely.

There has not been a leak of this magnitude in recent times and senior police and intelligence officers have been meeting to work out what damage limitation measures, including heightened personal protection for many, need to be taken. Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary, spoke about how the “leak was deeply concerning”, adding “my officials are in close contact with senior officers and are keeping me updated”.

The threat is self-inflicted. The police service mistakenly published the information in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request on Tuesday. Surnames, initials, the ranks, work addresses and departments of all PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) staff were made public. Home addresses were not included, but it would not be difficult for those determined to do harm to track at least some of these down.

The main terrorist threat, at present, comes from dissident republican groups, in particular the New IRA, the breakaway faction from the Provisional IRA, which has rejected the Good Friday Agreement and continues the strife which claimed 3,700 lives in three decades of bombings and shootings.

The organisation claimed responsibility for the shooting of an officer earlier this year. Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell was left seriously injured in the attack in Omagh.

Two police officers, two prison officers and two British soldiers have been killed since the signing of the agreement in 1998 and there have been many other attempted murders. The soldiers, Sapper Mark Quinsey and Sapper Patrick Azimkar, were shot dead in 2009. Corporal Stephen Carroll of the PSNI the same year, and Constable Ronan Kerr in 2011. The prison officers, David Black and Adrian Ismay, were killed in 2012 and 2016.

Another dissident republican group, Arm na Poblachta (ANP) which carried out an attempted bombing outside a Londonderry police station, announced last March that not just officers, but also their families, were legitimate targets.

Petrol was poured as youths exchanged projectiles at Belfast’s Peace Gate with their faces covered during clashes in April 2021 (Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Information about officers involved in fighting organised crime has been leaked. This also presents a grave risk. Both nationalist and loyalist paramilitaries have long been associated with criminality. But there has been a huge increase in former and current members being involved in the drug trade and extortion since the end of The Troubles.

One example is that of the well-armed South East Antrim Brigade of the UDA (Ulster Defence Association) which, say the police, is extensively engaged in narcotics trafficking. Members have been accused of murder and threatening the lives of journalists and politicians. Doug Beattie, the leader of the UUP (Ulster Unionist Party), has said the group has threatened to kill him twice.

It is unsurprising that Liam Kelly, the chairperson of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland (PFNI), has stressed the “monumental” risk his members are facing and condemned the way the breach has unfolded.

He said: “Even if it was done accidentally, it still represents a data and security breach that should never have happened. Rigorous safeguards ought to have been in place to protect this valuable information which, if in the wrong hands, could do incalculable damage.

“The men and women I represent are appalled by this breach. They are shocked, dismayed and justifiably angry. Like me, they are demanding action to address this unprecedented disclosure of sensitive information. We have many colleagues who do everything possible to protect their police roles.”