Derbyshire Police officer resigns before misconduct hearing
- Published
PC Ian Biggin resigned from Derbyshire Police on Friday
A police officer facing allegations he did not investigate a racial crime properly has resigned.
A woman reported she was racially abused and threatened by a neighbour while on a bus journey home in January.
PC Ian Biggin, of Derbyshire Police, faces four allegations - which he denies - over the way he dealt with the investigation.
He tendered his resignation, which was accepted by the force, on Friday, ahead of the misconduct hearing on Monday.
The three-day hearing will continue despite PC Biggin's resignation, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, external.
It is alleged that he failed to act "expeditiously" in his role as a police officer and did not make "adequate attempts" to gather evidence following the woman's claims.
It has also been called into question whether PC Biggin "knowingly included false or misleading information" while taking notes about the incident.
'CCTV dismissed'
The woman, who cannot be named, told the hearing she first called police while leaving the bus and was scared to see that the perpetrator had also got off the bus seconds later.
She said she spoke to PC Biggin on two occasions - the first an hour or so after she left the bus and then again later in the day when he visited her home address.
She claimed PC Biggin asked her to sign his electronic notes on the case but did not show her the contents of those notes, the panel heard.
She also said he was quick to dismiss any potential of CCTV evidence.
The woman told the panel: "[At the time of the incident] I spoke to him for about 30 seconds. He told me to get the bus and go home. He told me not to [give details] and he said 'I'll see you later'.
"[During the interview] I thought he would go and speak to the neighbour from what happened on the bus [but he did not].
"I said there was people on the bus and that there was CCTV. He said it [the CCTV] would be grainy and it would then be a case of he said/she said and they wouldn't be able to make anything out."
An attempt by PC Biggin's legal team to adjourn the hearing in the wake of a new "significant" evidence was refused by the chair.
The misconduct hearing continues.
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