Senior officer attempted to influence an investigation into a domestic incident – Hampshire Constabulary, September 2022

In September 2022 officers from Hampshire Constabulary went to a house, responding to reports of a domestic dispute. A concerned neighbour had called to say that two people were fighting, children were crying and that there were witnesses at the house.

One of these witnesses was an off-duty senior officer of Hampshire Constabulary. The police officers recognised him. They described him as trying to control the situation, acting in an intimidating and unprofessional manner throughout the incident.

During the incident the senior officer did not formally identify themselves or their rank to the attending officers and attempted to speak to various people in private, including the officers, some of the people involved, the suspect who was arrested, witnesses and the alleged victims. At the time of the incident the senior officer was in overall charge of the Response & Patrol and Neighbourhood commands and was the domestic matters strategic lead within Hampshire Constabulary.

Following the incident, the same senior officer reached out to a colleague asking them to contact the sergeant who was overseeing the investigation and custody of the arrested suspect, asking them to call him back. Following that message being given to the sergeant a call was not returned to the senior officer.

During our investigation we analysed 999 and 101 calls, incident reports and digital evidence including body worn video. We reviewed relevant policies, procedures and legislation, obtained records of previous complaints against officers, gathered statements from police witnesses. The senior officer was interviewed under caution for misconduct.

We finalised our investigation in October 2023.

We were of the opinion that the senior officer should face a disciplinary hearing for potential breaches of the police standards of professional behaviour relating to: authority; respect and courtesy; duties and responsibilities; and discreditable conduct.

In April 2024 a disciplinary panel found the former officer’s conduct breached the police standards of professional behaviour and his actions amounted to gross misconduct. He would have been dismissed without notice if he had not already retired from the force. He was placed on the police barred list, meaning he can never work for the police again.

We waited for all associated proceedings to be finalised before publishing our findings.

We carefully considered whether there were any learning opportunities arising from the investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.

We did not identify any organisational learning.