Police officer barred after gross misconduct ruling

The officer admitted viewing the information but said he came across it by chance

Leicestershire's chief constable has said an officer who shared confidential information with a member of the public would have been dismissed from the force if he had not already left.

The unnamed detective constable searched the police computer system for information about an arrested person more than 30 times in August 2023 when he had no reason to do so for his job.

A misconduct hearing heard he had a "connection' to the person arrested and searched the system out of "emotional curiosity".

The detective was found guilty of gross misconduct after the hearing in February and has since been placed on the police barred list.

Chief Constable Rob Nixon said: "The former officer's actions were driven by emotional curiosity. This was a severe error of judgement.

"The public and the force rightly expect the highest standards of professional behaviour from all our officers and staff. This includes protecting confidential information treating it with full respect.

"Had the former officer still been serving, he would have been dismissed without notice. I have also indicated for the former officer's details to be included within the Police Barred List."

'Severe error of judgement'

Leicestershire Police regulations state browsing the system for information out of "curiosity" or "personal use" is not permitted, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

The officer admitted accessing the files, but claimed he came across them by chance.

The misconduct panel said the detective would have been dismissed from the force if he had not already left.

However, the panel's report said the officer's service record up to that point left "no doubt" he had "provided a huge service to many victims and members of the public" during his career, and his actions were labelled "severe error of judgement".