Police officers ‘engaged in sexual conduct with each other whilst on duty’

The pair, referred to only as Pc A and Pc B “due to concerns about their mental health”, admitted the sexual conduct “occurred on a number of occasions and at differing locations”, a misconduct hearing was told.

Chief Constable Nick Dean said people “rightly expect when an officer comes on duty that they are there to protect and serve the community, not to be engaged in sexual activity which brings discredit to the service”.

He said the pair made admissions to their sergeants but “I am doubtful that this would have occurred had the information not come to light from a third party”.

Mr Dean added: “I accept that the third party discovered the activities through one of you, however you should have proactively declared your relationship before this came to a formal misconduct procedure.

“I also note that it appears, albeit no formal checks have been presented to me, that no damage was done by you not responding to calls for service and that no member of the public discovered your activity, which would have cast a completely different light on the harm caused to our constabulary.”

The two officers were found to have breached standards of professional behaviour and were dismissed without notice for gross misconduct following a private hearing on April 21.

The hearing was told Pc B had resigned from the police service before the hearing.