Woman 'worried' after police officer followed her on Instagram

The misconduct panel is hearing evidence at the force's headquarters in Ripley

A woman sent heart-eyes emojis on Instagram by a police officer whom she believes checked her number plate to get her details has described her situation as "very, very worrying".

PC Jack Harrison allegedly entered the woman's registration on a confidential database to find her details so he could follow her on Instagram.

He said he looked it up as he suspected the car was involved in crime.

The woman later came up as a "suggested follower", he added.

A misconduct hearing is taking place at Derbyshire Police's headquarters in Ripley.

'How has this happened?'

During the hearing on Thursday, the complainant - who was granted anonymity by the panel - said she first noticed a police officer while the pair were in a Co-op store in Wirksworth on 28 September 2021.

She said PC Harrison followed her in his patrol car as she went back to work, and later noticed he had followed her then-public account on the social media platform.

"I recognised him as the police officer I saw at the Co-op," she said.

"It was a very strange coincidence, and [I thought] how has this happened?

"I did question whether plates could have been run to get my name.

"It was a very, very worrying situation to be in and made me feel a bit nervous about what had happened."

Under cross-examination, the woman said that while she made her account private due to her concerns, she did not block the officer as she had been advised not to by a friend's mother - who was also a police officer - before reporting the matter to the police.

The officer is alleged to have followed the woman in his patrol car from a Co-op store in Wirksworth

PC Harrison, who joined the force in January 2019 after being a special constable for three years, is alleged to have breached standards of professional behaviour in respect of honesty and integrity, confidentiality and discreditable conduct.

Giving evidence, he said he did not see the woman in the Co-op and denied watching her get into her car before following her.

He said he first saw the car when he believed the driver went "too fast" while leaving the Co-op, which gave him a purpose for the Police National Computer (PNC) check.

"I had [a] suspicion that it might be used in crime," he said.

"I still think at the time the vehicle was travelling too quickly in the car park."

After the PNC check returned no concerns, he said he stopped following the car.

The woman said PC Harrison had reacted to some of her Instagram posts

The panel has also heard PC Harrison had followed the woman on Instagram later that day.

The woman said when she realised that the officer had followed her, he also had, at some stage, reacted to her previous Instagram posts. One reaction was a flame emoji and another was a heart-eyes emoji.

When asked to explain what a flame emoji and heart-eyes emoji meant, PC Harrison said: "It means something that is good."

He said he followed the woman on Instagram when she came up as a suggested person to follow, adding he did so because they had "above 30 mutual friends".

He said he did not remember reacting to the woman's photos but believed he did so as he thought they were attractive.

PC Harrison estimated he reacted to people's Instagram posts with emojis about 10 times a day to a variety of accounts, including those belonging to men, women and businesses, and followed more than 1,000 people on the platform.

The hearing continues.