Avon & Somerset Police committed to transparency despite misconduct ruling, says senior officer
Two female officers found guilty of gross misconduct are being allowed to remain anonymous
A senior Avon and Somerset Police officer has reaffirmed a commitment to “openness and transparency” in misconduct hearings against officers, as two constables found guilty of gross misconduct are allowed to keep their anonymity.
The female pair were found guilty on Friday, August 16, after a six-day tribunal at Avon & Somerset Constabulary headquarters in Portishead for treating a vulnerable woman having a mental health crisis like a “caged animal”.
Relating to an incident on the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, which featured in the Channel Four documentary To Catch a Copper, a panel ruled that they used excessive force when they arrested her after she attempted to climb the wall and jump.
One of them was found to have stood on her arm and grabbed her hair and throat while she was handcuffed, before the other Pava pepper-sprayed the young female at close range in a police car, having momentarily removed and replaced a spit hood.
Neither responded when she said she could not breathe with the hood on her head as they drove her to custody at Patchway police station, it was found.
The panel decided that the officers would have been dismissed without notice had they not already resigned from the force, and they will be placed on a barred list preventing them from working in policing or law enforcement again.
They treated the woman in a “cruel and degrading way”, “laughed at her suffering”, were sarcastic, condescending or antagonistic and made fun of her during the incident, captured on bodyworn video, which opened the fly-on-the-wall Channel 4 documentary series To Catch A Copper earlier this year.
Mark Loker, the then-chairman of the force’s Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, told the TV crew as he watched the footage: “It’s the worst misconduct I think I’ve ever seen.”
But despite the “horrific” treatment, the misconduct panel’s Legally Qualified Chair (LQC), who is independent of policing, banned the reporting of their identities throughout the hearing and then reconfirmed the ruling at its conclusion despite the findings.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) challenged the decision unsuccessfully before the case began and again at the end of the proceedings.
The LQC said that despite granting anonymity, the public would have confidence in the police misconduct system because the hearing was held in public, after she rejected an argument from the officers’ barristers that it should take place behind closed doors.
The LDRS disagreed and argued that shielding the constables’ identities was a right available only to police officers accused of wrongdoing and that this was not an entitlement for any member of the public in a criminal court case, where every adult defendant is named and the proceedings reported fairly and freely.
The reporting restrictions are in stark contrast with the decisions of Avon & Somerset’s own top officer, Chief Constable Sarah Crew.
In November and December 2022, the LDRS challenged her rulings to grant anonymity in two cases where she, rather than an LQC, was overseeing the hearings.
Chief Constable Crew agreed with our submissions on the principles of open justice and clear public interest and overturned those orders and, ever since, every officer facing a misconduct hearing before her has been named and the hearings held in public.
Asked to comment on the Clifton Suspension Bridge misconduct anonymity order, the force’s Deputy Chief Constable Jon Reilly said: “Openness and transparency is vital for policing to maintain the trust and confidence of our communities, particularly when it comes to cases of gross misconduct.
“A public hearing was held with respect of this matter where the full facts of the case and the horrific actions of the two former officers were explained.
“We have issued details of the hearing on our website and the outcome notice will be published in due course, in keeping with the national guidelines.
“It is our belief officers facing gross misconduct public hearings should normally be named to be as open as possible.
“No two misconduct cases are the same and we understand there are occasions where it is appropriate to grant officers anonymity.
“This particular hearing was not chaired by a senior officer within Avon & Somerset Police but an experienced Legally Qualified Chair, who is independent of policing, and therefore it was their decision whether those former officers should be named in this matter.
“Representations from legal experts and the media were heard by the LQC, before and after the hearing, and it was their view the officers should not be identified.
“We respect the decision and authority of the LQC.
“We remain committed as an organisation to being as transparent as we can about cases of misconduct and will not tire in our efforts to remove people from the organisation who are plainly unfit to serve in policing, like these two former officers.”
The incident on the bridge happened in the early hours of December 4, 2021.
The constables denied gross misconduct but admitted misconduct.