We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

A police officer kissed an unwilling student in a patrol car when he should have been searching for an injured citizen, an employment panel heard.

PC Graham Salt, 39, has now been sacked after he was found guilty of misconduct. It heard Salt pulled the patrol car to a stop during a job and asked the 22-year-old student, who had only just started her tutor period, “What would you do if I kissed you now, would your head fall off?”.

Salt then took his seatbelt off, pulled her towards him and kissed her, the panel heard. The trainee said the kiss was both uninvited and unwelcome but he pulled over again at a nearby industrial estate in Skelmersdale, Lancashire. The panel heard Salt put his hand on her knee without consent, Lancs Live reports.

During this time, the officer should have been searching for a potentially injured citizen.

Even after his advances, the panel heard Salt later made a FaceTime call during which he had an erection and asked her: “what she was going to do about it”? The student then ended the call. 

The Lancashire Police misconduct panel was told the employee was previously of good character. While Salt admitted kissing his fellow officer, he denied doing so without her consent.

The panel noted: “[Salt] was unconvincing in respect of other parts of his evidence e.g. he stated that he and the PC had a conversation at the police station and he told her he was wrong in respect of matters and she accepted that and they both moved on. Nevertheless, he then contacted her via FaceTime to “make sure she was ok”. There was no need for such further contact given their resolution of the matter at the police station.

“The panel did not find the officer to be a convincing witness. His overall evidence lacked credibility. He was an unreliable witness who tried to avoid any difficult questions. “

The panel ruled Salt had not set out to exploit the junior officer but instead completely misinterpreted the situation. They said there had been flirtatious comments but that this was in an atmosphere he had created and that the woman had never shown any interest in him.

It added: “This was not a malicious act but the officer has totally and inappropriately misjudged a situation which he should never have created in the first place. There was an unequal power imbalance which he should have recognised. He has acknowledged that he had the greater responsibility of the two of them. He should have been assisting a young officer finding her feet in the Force rather than viewing her as a potential sexual partner.

“The officer should not have engaged in flirtatious behaviour with a fellow officer and should certainly not have acted on it. He should not have attempted to pursue a relationship with her while on duty. He was neglecting his policing responsibilities and duties at that time. He should have been searching for a possibly injured individual rather than flirting with an officer and trying to kiss her.”

The panel also noted that the trainee officer suffered harm to the start of her career, while Salt’s conduct will have undermined general public confidence in policing and the perception of Lancashire Constabulary.

They concluded that his actions amounted to gross misconduct and that the only appropriate sanction was immediate dismissal.

Source: Read Full Article