Former officer in disciplinary case over images now barred by police
A FORMER Burton police officer sent inappropriate images of himself while in uniform and on duty, a misconduct hearing was told.
Held to consider the case of Andrew Stevens, the presiding panel has now determined that he would have been sacked from Staffordshire Police had he not already resigned.
Despite this, the misconduct hearing still went ahead and it decided that Stevens will be prevented from working in policing and other law enforcement bodies again.
Stevens, 31, who worked as a response officer based in Burton, was the subject of an investigation last year. The hearing, which was held on December 30, found that he had breached discreditable conduct standards by sending inappropriate images of himself in uniform, and while on duty, to a third party via a social media platform.
His actions were assessed by the panel, chaired by Chief Constable Chris Noble, and considered to be so serious as to constitute gross misconduct.
Stevens resigned in May 2021, which took effect from June 16.
Deputy Chief Constable Emma Barnett said: “We expect the highest standards from our officers and the actions of Stevens fell far short of that expectation.
“Our residents and communities have the right to expect our officers to act professionally and with integrity at all times so that they can have confidence in the work that we do.
“Although regulations allow an officer to resign while under investigation for gross misconduct, the misconduct process still continued. He will now be placed on the national College of Policing’s Barred List preventing him from working within policing and other law enforcement bodies.”