‘Unacceptable behaviour’ sees former Specials barred from policing

TWO former Derbyshire police officers involved in a misconduct hearing have been barred from policing.

The hearing was told that Special Constables Luke Chafer and Joshua Hollis participated in a highly offensive chat group on Instagram which included topics such as rape and sexual violence as well derogatory remarks about women.

An independent panel led by Henry Gordon – the legally qualified chair – found all the pair’s alleged breaches of the policing standards of professional behaviour were proven true and amounted to gross misconduct.

The pair have been barred from policing for at least five years due to their “completely unacceptable” behaviour.

At the time both Chafer and Hollis were studying a policing course at the University of Derby and had roles as Special Constables for Derbyshire police. These are voluntary roles, but they have the same power as regular officers.

Both officers resigned prior to the misconduct hearing, but it was found Chafer and Hollis would have been dismissed without notice if they had not left.

Derbyshire police says it cannot stop anyone from resigning, but can still continue with the disciplinary process under the former officer regulations.

Chafer and Hollis did not attend the hearing but the independent panel said it was in the “interests of justice” to proceed.

News of the offensive Instagram messages made local and national headlines last year when the University of Derby announced it suspended six students due to the content of the messages.

It was heard how the group chat included frequent adult references from the TV show The Inbetweeners and was titled “You’re ******* getting it” and mentioned a number of women.

Six people were participating in the chat group, five of whom were Special Constables, two for Derbyshire police.

On one occasion, it was heard, Chafer allowed a third party (a woman), unknown to the girls mentioned in the group, to see the messages. This was done so Chafer could “wind up” his friends who also participated in the chat.

The woman became so concerned about its content that she decided to publicly screenshot messages and alert people, including the women mentioned via social media. The messages and content were said to have caused “widespread outrage” by the public.

It was also heard how in 2019 a woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had sex with Hollis while his colleague Chafer watched from a wardrobe in the same room – unbeknown to the woman. The off-duty incident was judged proven. The hearing was told that Chafer appeared out of the wardrobe five minutes after the pair had become intimate. When discovered he said “hello madam” before leaving the room.

In statements Chafer argued he left just seconds after the pair had become intimate but this was not accepted by the independent panel. Hollis had refused the allegation completely, and again this was dismissed.

Another person was also discovered hiding in the room around half an hour later, with the experience leaving the woman “embarrassed” and “exposed”.

Hollis was also found to have breached Derbyshire police policy by having incapacitant spray at a personal address and was recently convicted of drink-driving.

Mr Gordon said: “Given our findings of fact the panel has no hesitation in finding that all of the breaches by those officers amount to gross misconduct and are so serious to justify dismissal.

“We regard both officers as being highly culpable for their actions. The panel has returned that the outcome in this case had the two officers not resigned would have been dismissal without notice. Their names will be placed on the barred list.”

A spokesperson for Derbyshire police said: “When we were made aware of the unacceptable remarks these two students had made, they were suspended from duty as Special Constables and an investigation was launched.

“Both Mr Hollis and Mr Chafer resigned as Special Constables before a misconduct hearing was held. At the hearing, all the evidence was heard, and it was decided that had they still been serving members of the organisation, they would have been dismissed.

“The type of language seen in these comments is completely unacceptable and the organisation utterly condemns it. The force, and the public, expects the highest standards of behaviour from our officers, staff and volunteers, whether on or off-duty, on social media or otherwise. Those found not to have upheld our standards will be dealt with robustly.”

Derbyshire police added that a criminal investigation was launched into Chafer and Hollis’ actions but “the threshold was not met for them to be charged”.

The type of language seen in these comments is completely unacceptable ... the organisation utterly condemns it. Police