Northamptonshire Police officer sacked after giving number to person she met in pub while responding to incident
A Northamptonshire Police officer has been sacked after she gave her phone number to someone she met in a pub while on duty and while responding to an incident.
Constable Kelly Pearce was the subject of a gross misconduct disciplinary hearing at Northamptonshire Police headquarters on December 15 and December 16, after an incident in December 2024.
According to the hearing report, on December 22, 2024, Ms Pearce attended an incident at a pub and engaged in a conversation with a member of the public, which was “inappropriate as the conversation was of a personal nature and/or in furtherance of a personal relationship”.
Ms Pearce also turned her Body Worn Video off when providing ‘Person A’ with her personal telephone number. ‘Person A’ then sent Ms Pearce a message at 12.35am on December 23, 2024 and Ms Pearce responded, which was “inappropriate as she had met ‘Person A’ in the course of her duties”. Ms Pearce also met with ‘Person A’ on a subsequent day.
Ms Pearce, who had been a serving officer since March 2022, attended the misconduct hearing and admitted the factual allegations, but denied that they amounted to gross misconduct and admitted misconduct instead. She also said she has “severe regrets” about the incident.
The hearing report said: “PC Pearce gave evidence. In summary, she said that she had ‘sincere regrets’ about the incident. She said that she gave her telephone number to put a stop to Person A’s interactions with her. She recognised that she had crossed a professional boundary. She said that she had switched her body camera footage off because she had not wanted colleagues to view it, as they would have ridiculed her.”
The former officer added that at the time of the incident, she had felt “isolated, unsupported and “mentally exhausted”. She said that this information was being offered “by way of context and not as an excuse”.
It was alleged that Ms Pearce breached the standards of professional behaviour relating to integrity, discreditable conduct and orders and instructions.
The hearing report added: “The reputational harm consisted of the trust that is placed in police officers to act professionally and to always act with integrity. The Officer, when she switched off her body worn camera, had attempted to conceal her actions when she had handed her telephone number to Person A. This had been contrary to the professional standard of integrity in that police officers must be trusted to act in an acceptable and ethical manner.”
The panel considered the available evidence and found the matter was so serious as to amount to gross misconduct, as her “conduct had demonstrated a serious lack of integrity”.
The hearing report continued: “Integrity is a fundamental core aspect of policing, and the wider public must be able to trust police officers.”
The panel concluded that the most suitable outcome was dismissal without notice and “considered that anything less than dismissal would seriously undermine public confidence in the police and would not act as a deterrent to others.”
Ms Pearce has the right to appeal the outcome.