Police offer tickets to sacking of PC who took cannabis

YOU might expect a certain legal formality to surround the firing of a police officer for smoking cannabis, but a force has been accused of turning just such a case into ‘crass’ entertainment after using an events company to offer tickets to it.

Before PC Kirk Van Niekerk’s disciplinary hearing, West Midlands Police asked Eventbrite to publicise it on its website. The firm – more commonly used to promote music festivals – offered basic information about the case, but breezily added: ‘We hope you enjoy West Midlands Police Public Misconduct Hearing – PC Van Niekerk. Cheers, Eventbrite.’

The officer was sacked from the force after he was found guilty of gross misconduct at the hearing in Birmingham on July 30.

The disciplinary panel was told a fellow officer had smelt cannabis inside Mr Van Niekerk’s patrol car and reported it.

A drugs test showed traces of the drug in his system that were

‘It’s making some officers uneasy’

three times over the ‘accepted limit’ for passive smoking.

Before the tests came back, Mr Van Niekerk initially claimed he had never smoked the drug.

He later admitted he had smoked a joint at a party four days before the test, but denied using the drug in a patrol car.

Mr Van Niekerk, 32, who is now a lorry driver, criticised the force for using Eventbrite to allocate seats to his hearing.

And a source at West Midlands Police described the method used to advertise the hearing as ‘crass’, saying it had been turned into something akin to a ‘public flogging’. The source added: ‘It feels more like entertainment for the public. This is making some officers very uneasy.’

Laws introduced in May require all police forces hold disciplinary hearings for its officers in public.

West Midlands Police admitted its first public hearing could have been handled better.

Deputy Chief Constable Dave Thompson, who chaired the panel that sacked Mr Van Niekerk, said: ‘I am sorry we didn’t get this right.’