back to article 2 officers bailed as anti-corruption unit probes data payouts to N Irish cops

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has bailed two officers after they were arrested as part of a fraud investigation related to the payments to cops whose sensitive data was mistakenly published in 2023. The personal data of 9,483 officers and staff members was exposed online for two hours in August 2023 following a …

  1. Ken G Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Compliments on the neutrally worded context paragraphs

    I've never read it described so genteelly before.

  2. Mage Silver badge
    Headmaster

    Decades in the 1990s

    All them since NI was created in 1922. So about 7 decades. Actually the extreme terrorists on both sides and the DUP (the D is D in DRK or GDR) never accepted the Good Friday Agreement.

    Earlier the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) in Ireland was a target.

    Curiously the IRA had very little support till the 1916 Easter Rising and Home Rule for all of Ireland and a path to independence was offered in 1914, but the War put it on hold. The IRA wanted the British to over-react in 1916, which they did, because the IRA involved Imperial Germany. This resulted in massive support for the IRA and eventual partition. Partition and subsequent extreme actions on both sides from 1922 to 1990s was thus mostly the fault of the IRA from 1916.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Decades in the 1990s

      "and eventual partition"

      Without partition, of course, there'd undoubtedly have been an extremely bloody war of secession.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: Decades in the 1990s

        >Without partition, of course, there'd undoubtedly have been an extremely bloody war of secession.

        An Irish civil war ? Inconceivable !

      2. Mage Silver badge

        Re: Without partition

        Instead of the Civil War in Ireland that killed more than 1916-1921, or the violence and insurrection in NI from 1922, that hasn't entirely ended and killed many in Ireland & England too?

        Partition was an artificial sop that didn't work and created a failed state. See historical West & East of River Bann excluding Loyalist Enclave in Slash City or Republican/Nationalist enclaves in Belfast.. N.I. will be gone eventually without violence. Brexit actually inflamed the situation, because with both parts of Ireland in the EU it didn't matter so much. On main party that supported Brexit in NI was DUP, who still see it as a way to end the GFA. Majority in NI voted remain. Max DUP vote has been about 1/3rd. Alliance* can't ever be First or Deputy Minister because the Assembly is a Fudge to suit Unionists and Nationalists. Non-Aligned can't lead Government or opposition.

        [* or any party not declaring as Unionist or Nationalist]

        1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

          Re: Without partition

          Can you imagine what it would be like if they weren't all Christians

  3. ChoHag Silver badge

    > "The public rightly expect and demand the highest standards of professionalism and integrity from all of our police officers and staff.

    Demand? Certainly.

    1. Ken G Silver badge

      Except in the matter of speeding tickets and red diesel.

  4. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "Police's data is considered especially sensitive in Northern Ireland, where many officers never reveal their job or role, even to family members, because of the tension with local Irish nationalists who do not believe the region should be under British control."

    When I lived there I reckoned on the risks coming equally from the prods and would expect they still do.

    1. Securico

      Come on man - if you don't know what you're talking about, don't weigh in. Loyalist paramilitaries probably cause as much crime as republican ones, but the notion that they are as equally likely to target police officers for being police officers is nonsense. There hasn't been any of 'the prods' arrested so far in relation to this data breach - https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/04/northern_irish_terrorism_arrests/

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        "Come on man - if you don't know what you're talking about, don't weigh in."

        Perhaps I know a bit more than you. I'd certainly follow the precautionary principle.

    2. Mage Silver badge

      Re: local Irish nationalists

      Republicans, not Nationalists. And so called "Loyalists", not Protestants.

      Real Nationalists and Unionists use democratic systems and observe the law. Actual Republicans and Loyalists don't observe the law or democratic processes, but when a group does join the constitutional and law abiding people, there is then a splinter group.

      IRA & SF -> Provisional IRA & SF -> New IRA etc etc.

      Ulster Unionist Party -> DUP -> TUV etc

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: local Irish nationalists

        "IRA & SF ->"

        Don't you mean "IRA & Workers Party" ?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: local Irish nationalists

          No, because Workers Party (now subsumed within the Labour Party) was Official Sinn Féin. The party now known as Sinn Féin, was Provisional Sinn Féin.

          And the IRA is now the amalgamation of the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA, both splits from the Provisional IRA which may have gone away, you know?

          1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

            Re: local Irish nationalists

            Splitters

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Irish politics is really 3 weasels in a trenchcoat.

              Sinn Féin (1919-1923) split into Clann na nGael and anti-Treaty Sinn Féin. Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin split into Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin (not the legal successor) which went anti-Franco in the Spanish Civil War but pro-Hitler in the Emergency. A reaction to the latter sent it socialist, leading to the Official Sinn Féin. Provisional Sinn Féin split into Sinn Féin and Republican Sinn Féin following the Belfast Treaty.

  5. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    So what did they do?

    Are they alleging that some PSNI were involved in the hack?

    Or did some plod claim 2 lots of 500quid ?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So what did they do?

      Or did someone deliberately leak the spreadsheet so his pals could claim compensation?

  6. ovation1357

    Am I alone in really hoping that the head of anti corruption used the term "Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee Donkey" during their investigation?

    It's the perfect setting! :-D

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