Police in Northern Ireland have accidentally released the names of 10,000 staff in an unprecedented security breach. The regional police association warned of “unforeseeable damage” for the employees. Twenty-five years after the end of the civil war, police officers are still being attacked in the British countryside. The perpetrators are mostly radical supporters of reunification with Ireland, a neighboring EU country. In February, a senior police officer was gunned down in front of his son and other youths.
As reported by the police, the authority had been asked in a request for a breakdown of officials and employees by rank. Inadvertently, the response also included a table with the surnames and duty stations, but not the home addresses, of all about 10,000 employees, from Police Commissioner Simon Byrne onwards. British Minister for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris and politicians from all Northern Irish parties expressed their deep concern. Police in Northern Ireland apologized. “This is unacceptable,” said Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd.
According to information from the BBC, several current and former employees had access to the data, which is said to have been temporarily available on a website.
