Police officer dismissed for accessing info to ‘gossip’

A POLICE officer used police computers to find out about a professional sports person’s arrest so he could “gossip” about it with his friends.

PC Ben Harmison’s career with Northumbria Police is now in tatters after he was dismissed from the force for accessing personal data and disclosing it to a member of the public, without a policing reason to do so.

The 38-year-old officer, who was based at Forth Banks Police Station, in Newcastle city centre, shared information about the sports star across three WhatsApp groups soon after the arrest was made in January last year, a police misconduct hearing heard.

Helen Thompson, representing the force, explained how PC Harmison’s actions could damage the public’s trust in the police, and that there was no valid excuse for his actions.

The hearing, which was chaired by Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine, heard how PC Harmison continued working for Northumbria Police following the breach until October when he was suspended after being charged with a criminal offence in relation to the data.

The officer, from Ashington, pleaded guilty to knowingly or recklessly obtaining or disclosing personal data without the consent of the data controller and was fined by magistrates.

The hearing, held at Northumbria Police’s headquarters in Wallsend, heard how the sportsperson was aware his data had been accessed but had not made a complaint.

PC Karen Harden, PC Harmison’s the Police Federation representative, told the hearing of the officer’s remorse at what he had done.

However, Ms Jardine decided that the officer’s misconduct was so serious he would be dismissed without notice.