A PSNI officer, who accessed records to find out information about a friend's estranged husband and his brother, has been disciplined following an investigation by the Police Ombudsman.
The female officer also showed up at an arrest of her friend's ex-husband despite having no role in the police operation.
Ombudsman investigators found it was likely that her friendship with the man's wife had been a motivating factor in her actions.
The case was referred to the police watchdog by the Chief Constable George Hamilton who asked for an independent investigation to be carried out into the officer's actions.
The man, whose wife was friendly with the officer, had reported that she had made a number of comments which led him to suspect she had been checking police records about him and his family.
When interviewed by ombudsman investigators, the officer admitted accessing police records about an arrest, but said she had done so as she hoped to gain intelligence.
She claimed her friend's husband had provided her with information in the past, which she had submitted to police, but checks by ombudsman investigators found no evidence of this.
The officer also admitted having accessed a number of other records, but said this had been as part of a police operation.
The officer also claimed her friend had asked her to help with her children during a planned arrest of the man, and she did so in a personal capacity during her lunch break.
Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire found that the officer's attendance at the arrest had been inappropriate.
"She should have recognised that her attendance at the arrest of her friend's estranged husband was a conflict of interest.
"In effect, she allowed her personal friendship to compromise her impartiality", Dr Maguire added.
A file was submitted to the Public Prosecution Service to consider whether the officer should be prosecuted for potential breaches of the Data Protection Act and Misconduct in Public Office. The PPS directed no prosecution.
However, the ombudsman considered that the officer’s actions did reach the lower evidential threshold for misconduct and recommended that she be disciplined for breaching police guidelines.
The PSNI has since implemented the recommended disciplinary sanction.
