Officer sent inappropriate messages to vulnerable woman – Northumbria Police, February 2021

In February 2021, a Northumbria Police officer responded to an incident where concerns had been raised for a man’s welfare. The officer spoke with the man’s ex-partner and she was deemed as high risk from potential future domestic violence.

After the incident, the officer continued to text the woman for a further three weeks, with messages that appeared to be personal, over-familiar and not for a policing purpose.

During the investigation, we obtained a download of the police officer’s phone, his training record and appraisals. We obtained statements from other police officers who attended the initial incident, and from the officer’s line manager. We also obtained policy and guidance documents from Northumbria Police in relation to officer’s contact with members of the public following an incident they had attended for a policing purpose.

We identified an indication of gross misconduct and served the officer with a notice of investigation. We subsequently interviewed the officer under the misconduct caution during which he admitted contacting the woman with a view to developing a personal relationship with her.

Our investigation concluded in April 2021. We waited for all associated proceedings to be complete before publishing our findings.

An independently chaired panel found gross misconduct proven against the officer.
A disciplinary hearing organised by the force, which concluded on 5 September, found the officer to have abused his position for a sexual purpose after attempting to pursue a relationship with a woman who reported a crime.

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.

In this case, the investigation has not identified any learning.