Police commissioner shocked at ‘horrifying’ misconduct

THE number of officers facing misconduct cases in Wiltshire is “horrifying”, the county’s police and crime commissioner has said, with the force dismissing an average of one a month.

Philip Wilkinson, who has held the PCC post for seven months, expressed his shock at the number of disciplinary hearings taking place in Wiltshire Police, including several pending cases.

Last week, the force saw a former constable sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment for misconduct, while last month Rachel Beale, an offender manager, was jailed for six months after having an affair with a convicted rapist she was responsible for supervising in the force’s sexual and violent offenders unit.

Mr Wilkinson said he wanted to look “at the very top of the force”, including the National Police Chiefs’ Council, to see why it had not identified a problem and put “mitigating strategies” in place.

He told Police Oracle: “You should hold the senior leadership to account for what they are responsible for. So I think there are a number of remedial actions that would not be that difficult to put in place. And I’m shocked that they are not already in place.”