Police officer sexually harassed female colleagues

A police officer who made sexual remarks and harassed and threatened female colleagues committed gross misconduct, a disciplinary panel found.

The Hertfordshire officer, referred to only as Officer D, resigned before the misconduct hearing took place.

Nineteen of the 28 allegations against Officer D were found proven on the balance of probabilities.

The panel's report said his behaviour "would, if known of, cause significant reputational harm and significantly affect public confidence in the service".

The panel heard how Officer D had changed the email signature of a colleague, known as Ms A, to "Ms A, the Fainter" after she had fainted at work.

It resulted in witnesses being sent emails with that signature, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Officer D, who admitted the allegation, said it was a "joke" he had assumed would be noticed immediately.

Officer D and Ms A worked in the Joint Child Protection Investigation Team, which the misconduct panel suggested was "dysfunctional".

Officer D was also found to have made repeated "remarks of a sexual nature" to Ms A.

The panel concluded Officer D's actions towards a second colleague, Ms B, amounted to sexual harassment.

According to the panel's report, Officer D showed a lack of "self-control, respect and courtesy" in an incident involving them.

Officer D was also in a car with another colleague, Ms C, when they spoke about a "misunderstanding" a few weeks previously.

Officer D was found to have made "threatening remarks", including that he was "so angry" about the situation that if he had spoken to her on the day, he would have "punched [her] in the face".

When she complained, Officer D threatened her again.

Further proven allegations included taunting Ms A about her return to work after she had been ill and "aggressively" throwing car keys at her.

The panel concluded Officer D would have been dismissed if he had been a serving officer at the time of the hearing.

It found Officer D's "neurodiverse characteristics" may have been "a material cause in at least some of the behaviours" but were not "the sole cause of any of the behaviours".

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