Inappropriate relationship and falsifying breath tests - South Wales Police, February 2020

We began an investigation in February 2020, after we received a referral from South Wales Police regarding an allegation an officer had formed an inappropriate relationship with a vulnerable woman he had met through the course of duties.

During the course of our investigation, we interviewed the police officer, examined his mobile phone and obtained statements from several witnesses. We found flirtatious text messages sent by the officer to the woman, from his work mobile, over a nine month period and evidence that he had stayed at her property overnight on at least one occasion.

At the end of our investigation in January 2021, we found the officer had a case to answer for gross misconduct. The officer retired from South Wales Police in March 2023.

The hearing heard that on a date in mid-December 2019, apparently to meet internal targets for individual roads policing officers, the officer carried out two negative breath tests on himself and recorded them falsely as tests on members of the public.

In interview he said he tested the device on himself because he was curious to see if a Christmas mince pie he had eaten earlier would have had any effect on his blood alcohol level. The panel found the explanation to be “wholly implausible” and that it was more likely than not that his conduct was a conscious attempt to inflate his breath test figures during a Christmas anti-drink and drugs driving campaign.

At the conclusion of the hearing on Tuesday 28 March, overseen by an independent legally qualified chair, the panel decided that the retired officer had breached the standards of professional behaviour and would have been dismissed had he not already left the force.

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.