A police officer is being investigated for allegedly passing information to loyalists.
The Chief Constable has asked the Police Ombudsman to investigate the actions of a female police officer who is accused of revealing information via social networking which could influence the outcome of criminal proceedings.
The officer based in east Belfast is currently suspended from her post while the investigation takes place.
Among the people that the female constable is alleged to have leaked classified information to was leading loyalist Jamie Bryson.
It is alleged that using a series of fake profiles on social media the officer made contact with a number of people including the Co Down loyalist.
It is alleged that at first the officer behaved in an abusive way 'trolling' targets who were mainly from a loyalist background.
However, after the officer was internally reprimanded for another matter, she is alleged to have responded by revealing privileged case information.
Bryson (25), who was convicted in March of four counts of taking part in unnotified processions during the flags dispute, has been called to give evidence to the Ombudsman about the actions of the officer but has said he will not cooperate with the policing watchdog.
"I have little or no trust in any police officer, even one who claims to be antagonistic towards her superiors, so I quite properly made my legal team aware of this bizarre development at the time", he said.
"It is my intention to call this officer, who was once a senior office in my case, as a defence witness during my appeal."
And he added: "I've no interest nor any intention of helping that process by assisting in the investigation against this officer."
The PSNI said they could not comment as the matter is now in the hands of the PONI.
A spokesman for the ombudsman said: "The Police Ombudsman’s Office can confirm that the PSNI has asked us to investigate matters related to the use of social media by one of its officers."
