Security concerns as Joe Biden visited a document found on the street

The Northern Ireland Police Service is investigating a security breach. Credit: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

Police are investigating a security breach after a secret official document detailing Joe Biden's visit to Belfast was found on a street in the city.

A member of the public discovered a document detailing the itinerary of the trip and a £7 million security operation dubbed the 'Ring of Steel'.

The Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster reported that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) document included the names of some of the officers involved in the security operation, as well as phone numbers and contact details of senior officers.

Police officers in Northern Ireland are already having to take extra precautions because of the threat from dissident Republicans.

PSNI said it was investigating the security breach. On Wednesday Mr Biden gave a speech at the University of Ulster on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

A police briefing detailed a security measure called «Operation Rondoletto» and she was found by a Belfast resident who introduced himself as Bill.

He pitched it on The Nolan Show and told the program, «This really seems like a very important, confidential document that goes into detail about shutdowns, who the commanders are, phone numbers, it gives you so many details about the officers. who entered the service. A little crazy that is lying on the street.

“I literally left the house and was driving down the street, and I saw the document, oddly enough, on the street where I live. I stopped and picked it up and there it was, and the first thing I noticed was a PSNI document with confidential information on the top, and it has five pages giving full details of the President of America's stay at the Grand Central Hotel. .”

Mr. «lists and names of all PSNI officers in charge of different streets» and Bill said he thought this could put the officers at risk.

“If you look at the last paragraph, there are contact details of the commanders, as well as phone numbers. To me, if it had fallen into the wrong hands, maybe at an earlier time, it's not something to think about when you think about how far they'll go to try and kill the cops.»

In a statement, a PSNI spokesperson said: “We are aware of a security breach. An investigation has been launched and we have notified the Senior Information Risk Officer.

“We take the safety of VIPs, members of the public, and our officers and employees very seriously and will take appropriate action.

This discovery comes a day after four suspected homemade bombs were discovered at the site of an illegal march in Londonderry.

For the second day on Tuesday, police were attacked in Londonderry. crude makeshift devices were salvaged hours before Mr Biden arrived in Belfast.

The devices were found in the city cemetery near Creggan Estate, where hundreds of people took part in a dissident Republican march just the day before and were urged to «join the IRA».

The terrorist threat level in Northern Ireland rose from significant to serious last month.

Detectives Inspector John Caldwell, lead detective for Northern Ireland, is in hospital after being shot in front of his son at a leisure center in Omagh in February.