PCSO destroys hopes after fiddling claims
A SHAMED PCSO destroyed his childhood dream of becoming a police officer by claiming almost £1,500 for hours he had not worked.
Michael Lawrence fiddled Staffordshire Police’s IT network to make it appear he had been on shift when he had not been on duty.
He illegally claimed £1,445 – and also misused the network so he could find out about “gossip and tittle tattle” in his area.
Lawrence, 29, of Sash Street, Stafford, previously pleaded guilty to misusing Staffordshire Police’s computer system and fraud by abuse of position.
He was handed a six-month suspended sentence and ordered to perform 150 hours unpaid work and pay £340 costs and £1,445 compensation.
Birmingham Crown Court Judge Kristina Montgomery told him: “You had dearly wanted to join the police force from an early age and it is inexplicable you blew up your prospects by the commission of these offences when you had made progress in achieving your dream.”
She accepted his intention had not been malicious and his purpose had been to get “gossip out of the computer and tittle tattle about people in your local area.”
The court heard Lawrence joined Staffordshire Police in June 2017 and did a four-week training course which covered the lawful use of the force computer.
But in the ten months from July 2017 he misused the system on a total of 879 instances to find out about what was happening in Rugeley which was not his patch.
Some of those inquiries related to personal matters.
Olivia Beesely, prosecuting, said on one occasion he suggested to another officer that they should “look up what is going on in Rugeley” but the colleague declined.
She said Lawrence had also found a fault in the system which allowed him to override dates when he had not worked to make it appear he had been on duty.
Stephen Lee, defending, said Lawrence had wanted to be a police officer from childhood.
“This is a car crash,” he said. “He joined as a PCSO and within short order found himself suspended for the reasons outlined.”
He said the defendant had been diagnosed with a disorder and that it happened as his marriage had broken down.
In relation to the fraud, he said Lawrence had initially made a mistake which was pointed out to him but he had then carried on.