PSNI Chief Constable Byrne will not walk away from job following data breach

The Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Chief Constable has said he does not intend to walk away following a significant data breach. Simon Byrne cut short a family holiday to return to Belfast where he faced several hours of questioning by the Northern Ireland Policing Board. He said he was “deeply sorry” following the “industrial scale breach of data that has gone into the public domain”, after some details of 10,000 officers and staff were published online for several hours on Tuesday.

Details of another breach following the theft of documents and a laptop from a car in Newtownabbey in July emerged on Wednesday. Asked whether he had considered his position as Chief Constable, Mr Byrne said in the short term his priority is the wellbeing of officers and staff. “But equally I know it’s a question that people will be asking, I don’t think leadership is about walking away, it’s facing up to your responsibilities and I think the organisation needs consistency and calm heads at the moment across the team to lead us through what we accept is an unprecedented crisis,” he said. Asked if members of the Policing Board mentioned him resigning, Mr Byrne replied: “No, they didn’t.” Speaking after the meeting, Ulster Unionist MLA Mike Nesbitt said the Chief Constable’s position was not discussed at the meeting of the Policing Board. “I’m not going to give a kneejerk reaction to it, and my focus is on the security and the safety of the men and women of the police service and of the service team, and I think Simon is genuine about doing all he can to deal with their safety and security,” he said. Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly, who sits on the Northern Ireland Policing Board, said the session with Chief Constable Simon Byrne had been “instructive and very robust”. “There were many questions asked, we got answers to some of them,” he said. “The issue around whether it is human error or a systems error was answered at the end. I think while human error was involved, there was also a problem with the system. I understand they changed part of the system which would resolve that problem at this moment. “We also talked about the welfare of police officers. “This is 10,800 names, which is huge, it’s colossal, and there is an issue of taking care of those people.” Mr Kelly said the big question is making sure such a data breach does not happen again.

Northern Ireland Policing Board chair Deirdre Toner described the police data breach as a “very grave matter”. She said it will remain the focal point for board meetings with the Police Service of Northern Ireland “for many months to come until we are reassured that the recommendations from the review are fully implemented”. Speaking after the board questioned Chief Constable Simon Byrne for several hours in a private session, Ms Toner said the personal impact of the data breach on 10,000 police officers and staff “cannot be overstated”. “Their safety and welfare, and the steps being taken by PSNI to communicate with staff and address their concerns were at the forefront of our discussions with the Chief Constable and his senior team at the extraordinary board meeting that was held this morning,” she said. “This breach has been identified as due to human error, with very serious consequences. Board members discussed the immediate actions PSNI are taking to support officers and staff. “Members have impressed upon the senior team the need to ensure every necessary step will be taken to reassure and protect affected staff, and to put the safeguards in place that will ensure this cannot happen again.”

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