Police officer given warning over fake Covid tests

A misconduct hearing found that the officer used a red pen to falsify two lateral flow tests

A Sussex Police officer who falsified the result of two Covid-19 tests has been given a final written warning.

A misconduct hearing found that the officer used a red pen to falsify two lateral flow tests when they returned from holiday on 13 March 2022.

Supt Petra Lazar said: “Such behaviours have no place in Sussex Police.”

The warning will stay on the officer's file for two years, a police spokesperson said.

The hearing was told that the officer, referred to as officer A, had put a picture of a lateral flow test in a work WhatsApp group with a message saying, “Oh. What do we think?”

A message in response read, “are you feeling unwell”, to which the officer responded with “no”.

The WhatsApp messages contained pictures of two lateral flow tests, both of which appeared to have had the positive red line drawn on with a biro pen, police said.

The following day, the officer reported sick with Covid and used one of the pictures to confirm their positive result.

When the officer was subsequently interviewed, they remained consistent with their claim that the tests were genuine and had not been tampered with.

As a result, officer A was alleged and proven to have breached standards of professional behaviour in respect of honesty and integrity.

Supt Lazar, deputy head of professional standards, said: “We expect our officers to act with the utmost integrity, and in accordance with the code of ethics and the standards of professional behaviour.

“The actions of this officer in this case fell short of the standards we expect, which is reflected in the findings by the panel.”