Abuse of position to target vulnerable women - Wiltshire Police, September 2022

A Wiltshire police officer met a woman after she made an allegation of sexual assault against her partner in July 2022. 

The officer exchanged more than 2000 messages with the woman on his personal mobile number over a three-month period, some of a sexual nature. He also 'followed' her on a social media platform.

Our investigation assessed data from his personal mobile phone, where the many messages were found, which did not serve a legitimate policing purpose, were flirtatious and represented an effort by the officer to establish and maintain a relationship with the woman that was entirely unprofessional.

At the end of the investigation in January 2023, we found that the officer had a case to answer for gross misconduct following inappropriate contact with a vulnerable woman.

Following an accelerated gross misconduct hearing in March 2023, it was determined the force would have dismissed the officer without notice, had he still been serving. The officer had resigned from the police service in February 2023.

The officer will also be placed on the police barred list, preventing him from future employment with any police service. 

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.