Surrey Police officer made sexual comments, hearing finds

Surrey Police said that the "overwhelming majority" of officers and staff were professional

A culture of "sexualised conversations" was present within a Surrey Police training group, a hearing has ruled.

PC Adam Watkins was found culpable of making sexually inappropriate comments to a female colleague.

At the officer's gross misconduct hearing, he argued his comments were made within the context of the culture of the team.

Surrey Police said that the "overwhelming majority" of officers and staff were professional.

Inappropriate comments by PC Watkins included asking his colleague, known as Officer A, explicit questions about her relationship with her partner.

CCTV footage from the group's end of training celebration on 7 October 2022 also showed PC Watkins pressing his groin against his colleague.

In a written statement, Officer A said she felt "afraid".

"It was an extremely creepy and uncomfortable experience, and it shocked me that he would behave in this way," she said.

PC Watkins accepted that he had been drinking and noted that he was unsteady on his feet.

'Cultural change'

Witness statements led the panel to note there "appeared to be a culture of sexualised conversations within the training group" at large.

The misconduct report advised that Surrey Police may wish to review the training provided to new officers and that the training provided to team leaders should be revised to ensure unacceptable standards of conduct were quickly identified and resolved.

Head of Surrey Police's professional standards department, Supt Andy Rundle, said: "We have invested in a comprehensive programme of cultural change towards challenging, reporting and tackling unethical or unprofessional behaviour.

"This included every officer and staff member undertaking mandatory training and plenary sessions in abuse of position for a sexual purpose, gender and racial bias."

PC Watkins resigned during the investigation, but the panel found his actions amounted to gross misconduct and he would have been dismissed.

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