Former officer banned from policing after gross misconduct proven
A former police officer has been barred from working in policing following a misconduct hearing this week.
Police Constable Z was found to have breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour – namely authority, respect and courtesy, discreditable conduct and honesty and integrity – after attempting to form a relationship with a vulnerable woman and acting in an unprofessional manner.
PC Z was granted anonymity by the chair because of a genuine concern regarding the risk of harm to witnesses, if the identity of the officer was to be made public.
A misconduct hearing was held earlier today (Wednesday 19 February) and heard how PC Z had used his work phone to contact the woman on several occasions on matters which were not work-related.
It also heard how PC Z, a response officer based in Yeovil, had attended the woman’s address for no apparent reason and contacted her following an incident he was not involved in.
The officer, who joined the force in 2022, had contacted the woman on 69 occasions on nine different dates, by text message and phone calls, over a four-month period from November 2022 to February 2023, with no obvious record of this contact being made on police records.
PC Z first met the woman during an investigation he was involved in, in which she was neither a victim or a suspect.
He resigned from the force in September 2023.
PC Z admitted to contacting the woman for a non-policing purpose, which he knew was wrong, and he pursued an emotional relationship with her.
He also accepted that he attempted to cover his relationship by asking her to delete their messages and doing the same on his work phone.
Detective Superintendent Larisa Hunt, the force’s head of the Professional Standards Department, said: “Following contact from a member of the public in March 2023, a full investigation was launched into the alleged actions of PC Z. This incident was initially referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) who deemed it appropriate for local investigation.
“When investigating PC Z’s phone records, several text and calls to the woman were discovered and, in some instances, the contents of the texts were recovered. The records showed that PC Z had contacted her both on-duty and on his rest days and several texts had been deleted.
“As a result of this investigation, an accelerated misconduct hearing was called and PC Z, who had already resigned, was gross misconduct was proven, and he was added to the police barred list. He abused his position of power as a police officer and his behaviour towards a vulnerable member of our society is unacceptable.
“We are grateful to the individual who had the confidence to report this to us and allow us to carry out a full investigation and ensure PC Z will never serve in policing again. We hope today’s outcome encourages other people to have trust in policing and the confidence to report inappropriate behaviour to us in the future.
“We support officers being named in misconduct proceedings but recognise there will be occasions where there are extenuating circumstances and we respect the Chair’s decision for anonymity to be necessary in this case.”
A copy of the misconduct outcome notice will be added to the misconduct section of our website when it becomes available.