Chief Constable will not be missed, claims local PSNI officer

THE rank-and-file of the PSNI ‘breathed a sigh of relief’ when they heard about Chief Constable Simon Byrne’s resignation earlier this week, according to one local police officer.

The North’s top officer vacated his position on Monday, after a string of recent controversies caused him to fall out-of-favour with many influential groups.

“He had already lost the support of more than 90 per-cent of the force some time ago, but the avalanche of scandals that surrounded him in recent months meant it was impossible for him to hang on any longer,” the local officer told the UlsterHerald earlier this week.

During his four years at the pinnacle of the PSNI, Mr Byrne survived a series of crises.

Last month, the PSNI were humiliated by an unprecedented data breach which led to the private files of 10,000 officers being leaked into the public domain.

Further smaller data breaches compounded Mr Byrne’s chagrin.

But it was his most recent mishap which the local officer believes put the final nail in his coffin.

“It was the way he handled the Sean Graham controversy that finished him,” they said.

This scandal spawned from the controversial arrest of one of the victims of the 1992 Sean Graham bookmakers attack in Belfast, at a commemoration of the shooting in February 2021.

One of the victims was arrested for breaching pandemic regulations.

The two arresting officers were disciplined by the Byrne-headed PSNI.

“Last Tuesday, the judge ruled those two officers had been unlawfully punished, and Byrne initially seemed to accept the judgment,” said the officer.

“Then, however, he seemed to go back on his word because of pressure from the DUP.

“There was a feeling within the PSNI that Byrne had thrown two junior officers under the bus to save his own skin, so to make a few U-turns because of political pressure further undermined our faith in him.

“Between the data breach (which is due to be independently-reviewed in the future), and his handling of the Sean Graham thing, more-or-less everybody lost trust in him.”

The officer said Mr Byrne’s hand was forced by the time he eventually stepped down.

“He had lost the support of the Policing Federation, Superintendents Association, Catholic Police Guild, and NIPSA, the DUP had submitted a motion of no confidence, and all the other major parties were calling for him to go, or asking big questions.

“He clung on as long as he could – but, by the end, he could cling on no longer.”

The officer who spoke with the UlsterHerald now says ‘big changes have to come’.

“Now he is gone, there needs to be more changes made.

“We need a senior management reshuffle – the guys are just too out-of-touch with the officers on the ground.”