Former PSNI assistant chief constable, Alan McQuillan, has recently revealed that a clandestine unit within the Northern Irish police force was set up to monitor the phones of journalists and lawyers. According to McQuillan, this unit used a separate laptop to access phone communications data of hundreds of individuals, allowing them to avoid scrutiny from independent inspectors. The PSNI has disputed the accuracy of McQuillan’s claims.
McQuillan has called for a public inquiry into the operation, which he alleges was used by police investigators to identify the contacts of lawyers and journalists of interest to the police. The unit operated for five years, from 2011 or 2012 to 2017, originally set up to monitor police misconduct, but expanded to include monitoring journalists and lawyers.
The lack of accountability systems within the PSNI allowed for this operation to go unchecked, with police investigators potentially using the system to identify confidential sources of journalists. McQuillan emphasized the need for a judge-led inquiry to address this breach of integrity within the service.
The PSNI has rejected McQuillan’s claims, stating that the unit in question was subject to scrutiny like all other police systems. In response to the claims, PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher has ordered a review of police surveillance of journalists, lawyers, and civil society groups.
The review comes in the wake of allegations that the PSNI unlawfully spied on journalists Trevor Birney, Barry McCaffrey, and Vincent Kearney. The PSNI has acknowledged making numerous applications for communications data relating to journalists and lawyers since 2011, as well as authorizing covert human intelligence sources to gather intelligence on journalists and lawyers.