Firearms officer drank wine on shift, panel told
A misconduct hearing heard PC Daniel Johnson was spotted at a pub
- Published
A firearms officer allegedly drank wine while on duty as an on-call constable, a police misconduct hearing has been told.
Police Constable Daniel Johnson was seen drinking at a pub one lunchtime by a surveillance officer while he was working for Merseyside Police in 2021.
He also accused of stealing a police battering ram and saw, and sending homophobic and racist messages while working for Merseyside Police.
PC Johnson denies the allegations.
'Serious matter'
The misconduct hearing heard police received intelligence one lunchtime in April 2021 that PC Johnson was at the Jug and Bottle pub at Heswall in Wirral while on duty as an on-call firearms officer.
A surveillance officer told the hearing he saw PC Johnson take a number of sips from a glass of wine and took photos of him doing this.
The surveillance officer said he thought PC Johnson "should not be drinking alcohol as he is a firearms officer".
The panel was told that PC Johnson said the wine was his wife’s drink, and not his.
The barrister representing Merseyside Police, Barney Branston, said drinking on duty was a “serious matter” because it would have “seriously compromised” his abilities as a firearms officer.
The hearing also heard allegations that PC Johnson stole a battering ram and a saw from police stores in 2017 and 2021.
Mr Branston said PC Johnson “took an opportunistic gamble and took [the equipment] without bothering to check whether he could or not.”
PC Johnson maintains he had permission to take the items.
He used the battering ram to weigh down a parasol in his garden.
Mr Branston told the panel an officer found to have stolen police items would be guilty of gross misconduct and would be liable to be dismissed.
PC Johnson is also accused of sending a homophobic messages about two senior officers to a colleague, and of sending a racist message to a colleague.
He denies all the allegations.
The hearing is scheduled to last for five days.
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