PC accessed confidential information off-duty

The misconduct hearing took place at Wootton Hall, Northamptonshire Police's headquarters

A former police officer who accessed confidential information without "lawful authority" to do so has been found to have committed gross misconduct.

Mason Smith, who joined Northamptonshire Police in February 2023, was found to have used Storm - a force system which stores information about police incidents - when he was off-duty.

A disciplinary hearing at Wootton Hall, the force's headquarters, heard that the former PC would have been dismissed had he not resigned prior to the hearing.

Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet said only dismissal was necessary to "sufficiently uphold public confidence in the police".

The hearing was told Mr Smith viewed police incidents "without a policing purpose" on three different dates while on duty in June and December 2024.

He then proceeded to view incidents on Storm on 63 occasions while off-duty during December 2024.

The disciplinary hearing heard that there were breaches of standards of professional behaviour for police officers relating to discreditable conduct, confidentiality and orders and instructions.

Speaking in Mr Smith's absence, Alan McMahon, the former officer's Police Federation representative, confirmed that he accepted "the facts of the allegations" and that his actions constituted gross misconduct.

In his judgement, the chief constable said: "No doubt in my mind that public confidence in the police service would have been hugely undermined were the circumstances of this case known to members of the public."

He found that the former PC's actions were "intentional and deliberate"

The ex-officer, who did not attend the hearing, was also barred from policing in future.