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Quis custodiet ipsos custodes - Who watches the watchmen?

According to the latest figures from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), there were 1,019 complaints made about Avon and Somerset Police in 2017.

The IOPC investigate the most serious and sensitive incidents and allegations involving police, but most complaints about the police are dealt with internally by the relevant police force.

Each force has a separate department that oversees complaints. These are called professional standards departments (PSDs).

To ensure transparency within the force and to show the highest standards are kept police forces around the country publish the outcomes of misconduct meetings held for its staff and officers.

Avon and Somerset Constabulary has been no exception, recording at least 14 cases in 2017 where officers, detectives, inspectors and police staff have not met the standards expected of them in their roles.

Incidents range from faking overtime to misconduct in connection with the death of a man in custody.

Others have been caught speeding or drink driving, while others have been sacked for racist Facebook posts and for sharing confidential police information.

While some misconduct hearings may not yet have been published the majority from 2017 can be seen below.

Some names and other details have been withheld in certain cases.

Drink driving

January 9: A police officer was convicted at Cardiff Magistrates for driving over the alcohol limit. Following a special case hearing the PC was dismissed without notice.

Taking cannabis light from scene

February 27: A member of police staff was brought before a hearing after taking a high intensity LED light and light shade from a cannabis farm they were investigating. They had taken it home and had not added to the list of property detained by the police. While the staff member was fired with notice, this was later changed to a 24 month final written warning on appeal.

Speeding and not giving driver's information

March 3: A police officer was caught speeding at 38mph in a 30mph zone. He was convicted at North Somerset Magistrates for failing to give information on who the driver was at the time.

The court did not accept the driver’s defence they had shown reasonable diligence in identifying the driver and Bristol Crown Court later dismissed their appeal. They were given a final written warning lasting 18 months.

Starting relationship with domestic abuse victim

March 20: A married police officer was sacked after the hearing heard he sent a young domestic abuse victim a picture of his penis while on duty in Bristol Crown Court.

PC Christopher Lintern was dismissed at a private misconduct hearing which was held due to 'concerns regarding the mental health of the officer’.

PC Lintern first met the victim in 2015 when he was investigating her complaint of domestic violence at the hands of her ex-partner.

Faking overtime hours

April 13: A member of police staff was sacked after being found to have claimed overtime they had not worked on several occasions. The hearing considered it a case of gross misconduct.

Using iPad for own use

April 24: A detective inspector was found to have used an iPad given by the constabulary for their own and their family’s personal use for a year and a half. Another, undisclosed, allegation was not found at the hearing and the DI was given management advice.

Failing to investigate racist attack

May 2: An incident back in October 2009 resulted in a police offer being ordered to take management advice after their poor investigation of what was believed to a racially-aggravated assault.

The officer received a report of four males fighting in Richmond Street, Western-Super-Mare and on arrival arrested one of the men. After checking CCTV they performed no further investigation to establish how it started.

The officer later contacted the man injured in the fight to gain further evidence and left a voicemail but no further attempts were made to contact him or investigate the incident, it was found at the hearing.

He called a few days later to say the case was being closed with no further action taken and hung up when the man became upset and ‘volubly irate’ at the inaction.

Abusive and insulting towards fellow staff

May 3: A member of the force’s staff was given a final written warning after it was heard they had acted in an aggressive manner towards colleagues as well as shouting abuse and making insulting comments.

Searching names on police data base

May 3: A police inspector was brought before a misconduct hearing after searching various names on the police database for a non-policing purpose on February 13, 2017.

Despite informing his line manager he had conducted the first of three searches, the misconduct earned them a written warning which will be on their record for 12 months.

Sharing racist Facebook posts

October 10: A policeman admitted sharing a Facebook image of Jeremy Corbyn as Osama Bin Laden and a post referring to an Islamist political activist as a 'monkey'.



The officer, identified only as Detective Constable T, posted the messages despite a force warning to "refrain from behaviour that could be seen to support or denigrate any political party".



He also shared posts by Shrewsbury Against The Islamification of Britain which said: "A family of Syrian refugees has been handed a six bedroom £500,000 house in Sevenoaks.



He denied intending to discriminate against muslims or influence public opinion ahead of the general election on June 8 and was given a final written warning.

Three officers and sergeant's misconduct in connection of prisoner's death

October 16: Three police officers guilty of misconduct following the death of a 40-year-old man in custody will not receive any official punishment.

PC Stephen Brawley, PC Ian Bartlett and PC Nick White were cleared of gross misconduct in a public hearing but the lesser allegation of misconduct was proved against all three.

The allegations were made after the arrest of David Fournier D'Albe on December 28, 2014 in connection with a fire at his home in College Street, Burnham-on-Sea.

But he would later die in custody due to medical reasons.

The disciplinary panel, led by independent chair Emma Nott, decided that "no sanctions should be imposed" on them.

Three days later the police custody sergeant at the time, PS Ian Flower, was also found guilty of misconduct following the death of Mr D’Albe and he received a written warning as punishment.

Failing to help domestic abuse victim

November 1: A police officer was dismissed for gross misconduct after failing in her duty to support a victim of domestic abuse.

The panel found PC Dustine Harlow’s actions amounted to gross misconduct after she failed to report the victim’s account properly.

Despite hearing sufficient information from the victim about being physically attacked the officer took no further action and recorded the incident inaccurately, saying ‘verbal domestic, no offences disclosed’.

At the time, supt Richard Corrigan said: “PC Harlow failed in her duty to protect a vulnerable victim of domestic abuse who was reporting a serious incident to us.

“The officer didn’t record the incident accurately or honestly on any of the Force’s recording systems, she failed to investigate the incident and didn’t offer the victim any follow-up support.

“As a Force we’re committed to supporting all victims of domestic abuse and the officer’s actions during this incident fell well below the standards expected of her.

“We work extremely hard with our partner agencies to safeguard domestic abuse victims and all frontline staff are trained to recognise the signs of domestic abuse and take positive and proactive action to protect victims.

“We know domestic abuse continues to be under-reported and we don’t want the actions of any officer to deter people from reporting offences to us.”

Abusive voicemail to missing boy's mother

November 7: Two Avon and Somerset officers were sacked after they were caught on tape saying they hoped a vulnerable young girl "got raped".

PC Samuel Dexter and PC Hannah Mayo did not realise their shocking conversation was being recorded on the voicemail of the 14-year-old's mother.

The two officers had driven to the family's house having received a call from the mother that the ‘vulnerable’ girl had gone missing again.

Racist Facebook posts

December 12: A police officer who saved the life of a woman attempting suicide at Avon Gorge in Bristol was fired after making racist comments on Facebook.

PC Jeanette Cadden was praised as a hero in 2015 after she saw a woman apparently attempting suicide and was able to rescue her by grabbing her hair.

The officer was dismissed from Avon and Somerset Police in December after being found guilty of gross misconduct.

Disclosing confidential police information

January 18: The detective inspector who was the lead investigator in the search for missing doctor Lauren Phillips was sacked.

A misconduct hearing for DI 910 Mark Langdon in January 18 found he had committed gross misconduct by disclosing confidential information to a third party.

He was dismissed without notice after he had informed Rory Tomlinson that the police had a record of him breaching data protection after searching it on their database.

Supt Richard Corrigan said: “The public rightly expects us to retain and store sensitive information obtained during the course of policing duties in the strictest of confidence and in adherence with our legal requirements.

“It’s inevitable that public confidence will be damaged when an officer in a senior position seeks out information stored on a police computer system and shares it with someone outside of the Force for no policing purpose whatsoever.

“The officer’s actions were further aggravated during the hearing by his account and explanation which were not accepted during the process. This became an important factor in their final decision.

“We have to treat breaches such as this with the utmost gravity and this officer is now facing the consequences of his failure to comply with the standards that we and the public expected of him.”

DI Mark Langdon was the police's spokesman during the two-week search for missing doctor Lauren Phillips, before the search was called off.

What the police had to say

(Image: Getty Images)

Deputy Chief Constable Sarah Crew said: “The government introduced legislation to ensure gross misconduct hearings are held in public with the aim of improving transparency and increasing public confidence.

"We can only police with the consent and support of the public so that can only be a good thing.

“But it’s also important to see this in context . Since May 2016 – almost two years ago – our Professional Standards Department has dealt with 2,688 cases, from mandatory referrals to the IOPC when somebody is injured or dies after we’ve had contact with them, to complaints from members of the public and conduct issues raised from within the force.

"Out of those, only 9.1% related to either misconduct or gross misconduct. Investigations into the remaining 90.9% positively validate the performance and conduct of officers, and show that they’ve done a great job often in very difficult and challenging circumstances.”

Hearing process

Hearings will normally be held at Avon and Somerset Constabulary Headquarters, Valley Road, Portishead.

The hearing will be conducted by a panel, chaired by an Independent Legally Qualified Chair.

The other panel members will be an officer of at least the rank of Superintendent and an independent lay person selected from an approved list held by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

The panel will hear the facts of the case, often with the assistance of live witnesses. If the officer is found to have committed gross misconduct the possible outcomes are:

Dismissal without notice

Dismissal with notice

Final written warning

Written warning

Management advice

Upon the conclusion of the hearing, the Chair will decide whether to publish an outcome notice in relation to the proceedings.