Police officer resigns days before start of misconduct hearing
HE IS ACCUSED OF NOT DEALING PROPERLY WITH RACISM CLAIM
A DERBYSHIRE police officer resigned just days before a misconduct hearing was due to start over allegations he did not investigate a racial crime in a proper way.
PC Ian Biggin tendered his resignation with Derbyshire Constabulary on Friday, the opening day of the hearing at Derbyshire police’s headquarters in Ripley was told yesterday.
The three-day hearing centres on an incident in January of this year when a woman, who cannot be named, called police and claimed she received racial abuse and was threatened by a neighbour while on a bus journey home.
The victim was said to be so scared by the events she rang the bell and immediately left the bus before it reached her destination.
The now former PC Biggin faces four allegations over the way he dealt with the investigation in the hours, days and months following the incident.
One of the allegations claims PC Biggin failed to act “expeditiously” in his role as a police officer and did not make “adequate attempts” to gather evidence following the woman’s claims.
It has also been called into question whether PC Biggin “knowingly included false or misleading information” while taking notes about the incident.
PC Biggin denies all the allegations.
The misconduct hearing panel, chaired by David Tyme, will consider whether the allegations can be found to be true and if so whether they amount to gross misconduct.
The hearing is still taking place despite PC Biggin’s resignation, which has been accepted by Derbyshire Constabulary.
“Witness A” told the hearing she first called police while leaving the bus and was soon scared to see that the perpetrator had also got off the bus seconds later.
The witness said she spoke to PC Biggin on two occasions – the first an hour or so after she left the bus and then again later in the day when he visited her home.
Witness A claimed the officer in question asked her to sign his electronic notes on the case, but did not show him the contents of those notes.
The witness also claimed the officer was quick to dismiss any potential of CCTV evidence to prove her case.
She said: “(At the time of the incident) I spoke to him for about 30 seconds. He told me to get the bus and go home. He told me not to (give details) and he said ‘I’ll see you later.’”
“(During the interview) I thought he would go and speak to the neighbour from what happened on the bus (but he did not).
“I said there was people on the bus and that there was CCTV. He said it (the CCTV) would be grainy and it would then be a case of he said/she said and they wouldn’t be able to make anything out.”
The former officer was not present during the opening of the hearing.
An attempt by his legal team to adjourn the hearing in the wake of new “significant” evidence was refused by the chair.
The hearing continues.