Simon Byrne told a press conference in Belfast yesterday he was "deeply sorry" about the mishandling of personal information, and that the force was advising officers and staff about potential threats and risks. "You can only imagine the unconscionable horror as people start to realise that maybe a loved one is put in jeopardy by what they are seeing," Byrne said.
The PSNI said systemic failures led to the mistaken release of details of more than 10,000 officers and staff on Tuesday - a spreadsheet was briefly published online - plus an earlier breach in July, when a police-issue laptop, radio and documents identifying more than 200 officers and staff were stolen from a private vehicle.
Hundreds of officers have raised safety concerns and expressed anxiety, with some of them "really, really angry", Byrne said, speaking after an emergency meeting with the Policing Board of Northern Ireland, which oversees the force.
He rejected suggestions from Sammy Wilson, the Democratic Unionist party MP, among others that he should resign. "Leadership is not about walking away - it's facing up to responsibility," he said. "We need consistency and calm heads to lead us through an unprecedented crisis."
Dissident republicans claim to possess some of the data circulating on WhatsApp, said Byrne, who stressed the claim was unverified. "We are advising officers and staff about how to deal with that and any further risk that they face," he said.
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