Devon and Cornwall Police: Ben Humphrey guilty of gross misconduct

The panel concluded the former officer would have been dismissed without notice

A former special constabulary sergeant accessed police intelligence systems for non-policing purposes, a panel has heard.

Ben Humphrey served with Devon and Cornwall Police and had his case heard by a misconduct hearing panel in July.

It found him culpable of gross misconduct and concluded he would have been dismissed, if still serving.

The panel also said Mr Humphrey had not informed the police of a previous county court judgement against him.

On 24 July the panel found Mr Humphrey had breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour in respect of Duties and Responsibilities, Confidentiality and Discreditable Conduct.

Between February 2021 and March 2022 the former officer had accessed police intelligence systems 189 times, including looking up an incident called in by his former partner.

He did so while off-duty, and for matters unrelated to policing, the panel said.

Mr Humphrey resigned by email in May 2022 before his case could be investigated.

'Truly sorry'

In the email he said he "did not deny any wrongdoing as I did access logs from my phone whilst off duty".

The following month he told the investigating officer: "I would like to say that I am truly sorry for accessing logs and anything I did wrong.

"Any information that I ever accessed was only ever seen by myself and was never shared with anyone."

Among the incidents he accessed were an incident of men fighting near his home and, on multiple occasions, a high-profile missing person and murder inquiry.

Deputy head of professional standards, Det Ch Insp James Stock, said: "The force and the public expect all officers and staff to carry out their roles to a high standard and to maintain the standard of expected behaviours.

"In this case, the special constabulary sergeant's actions have fallen below that and as such I agree with the outcome concluded by the panel."

Special constables are unpaid volunteers who have full police powers, uniforms and equipment.

The regulations apply in the same way to special constables as they do to salaried police officers.

Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]