Former Northamptonshire Special Constable faces gross misconduct hearing over logging in to police computer database while off duty

A former volunteer officer faces a disciplinary hearing over claims he used computer systems to check details of a person arrested by Northamptonshire Police.

Ross Dykes was an off-duty Special Constable when he allegedly logged in to the database and carried out a 'detailed search' for a 'non-policing purpose' on Christmas Eve 2020.

He is also accused of lying to mislead senior officers when quizzed about why he had accessed the information.

A hearing on Wednesday (December 22) will be told the behaviour, if proved, amounts to gross misconduct.

Details of the hearing, published by Northamptonshire Police, revealed: "On December 24, 2020, the officer’s conduct breached the standards of professional behaviour in respect of his unauthorised access to confidential Police systems and the information contained therein, and his subsequent response when asked to account for his access.

"The background to the allegation is that on December 23, 2020 Northamptonshire Police arrested a person who was released from custody the same day.

"The former officer accessed force systems on December 24, and conducted a ‘detailed find’ of the custody system which permitted him to see information as to whom was detained there.

"He then conducted a 'detailed find' operation for information about the person detained using an abbreviated version of their name followed by a further 'detailed find' operation on NICHE using the full version of their name, providing 652 results.

"The officer accessed the NICHE nominal record of the detained person, which was the only name from the list he accessed.

"On January 8, 2021 the officer was requested to explain the reasons for searching and accessing the information relating to the detained person on NICHE.

"The officer gave a false account to investigating officers with the intention of misleading them as to his reasons for accessing NICHE."