Police officer dismissed after work experience taken to sex offenders home
The detective who's based in Portishead has been found to have breached the standards of professional behaviour at a misconduct hearing today (September 1)
An Avon and Somerset Police officer has been dismissed without notice following allegations that they arranged a work experience placement for a teenager without the right permissions - and then took them to the house of a registered sex offender.
The detective who's based in Portishead has been found to have breached the standards of professional behaviour at a misconduct hearing today (September 1).
Her actions have been called 'highly reckless' with Detective Sergeant Nicola Coutts said to have 'demonstrated poor judgement and a significant lack of professional care'.
The hearing heard how the now former officer arranged for a teenage work experience student to attend the Violent and Sex Offender Register (ViSOR) office, as well as shadow an officer on a routine visit to a registered sex offender, without obtaining authorisation from her senior managers and without submitting a formal application or obtaining vetting clearance.
Head of Professional Standards, Supt Mark Edgington, said: “This was a serious incident in which a child was allowed access to the restricted ViSOR office, as well as being allowed to shadow an officer on a routine visit to the home of a registered sex offender. This posed significant safeguarding concerns, as well as a data breach risk.
“DS Coutts’ line manager had specifically asked her to halt the placement and take the teenager out of Headquarters prior to the home visit taking place, but this direction was ignored.
“The officer who conducted the home visit didn’t know the teenager’s age and believed all necessary vetting and security considerations had been carried out. The teenager was not left alone at any time, and the visit was cut short after the officer was contacted by phone and told to return to Headquarters immediately.
“DS Coutts’ actions in arranging and facilitating the placement were highly reckless and demonstrated poor judgement and a significant lack of professional care.”
Chief Constable Crew ruled that DS Coutts’ actions were in breach of the standards of professional behaviour and amounted to gross misconduct.
It was therefore decided the sanction should be dismissal without notice.
She will now be added to a barred list, preventing her from working in policing or other law enforcement agencies again.