Misconduct officers still on force

TWENTY-six Avon & Somerset Police officers are still serving despite committing misconduct or gross misconduct, the Chief Constable has revealed.

Two kept their jobs after findings of gross misconduct for sexual harassment and one for racial discrimination.

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During a grilling by Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Shelford in March, Sarah Crew said she was awaiting results from the national police database to check if any others had slipped through the net.

The chief constable told the PCC’s performance and accountability: "I fully acknowledge the concerns that the public have around standards of professional behaviour – I share these concerns.

“Within Avon & Somerset we’ve uplifted the resources within our professional standards department and we are checking all our officers and staff against the police national database to look at any intelligence or information that we might not have been previously aware of.

“It’s important to say that dismissal is not an available sanction when it is misconduct. That leaves nine officers who have a finding of gross misconduct.

“In those cases those officers have received a final written warning, and those would normally be in place for a set period of up to five years.

“Of those – because I know this is where the public concern is – two officers have received gross misconduct findings for sexual harassment or conduct preliminary to sexual harassment and one officer had a finding of discriminatory comments of a racial nature.”

Ms Crew said these three cases were subject to police misconduct panel hearings in 2019 and 2020, chaired by an independent legally qualified chair, adding: "It’s important to say that in the latter case, the discriminatory comments, that case was taken to judicial review by the then Chief Constable to explore and overturn that sanction. However, that wasn’t allowed by the court."

The chief constable she expected information to come back from the national police computer system in the next few weeks and a team was being created to pore through it to see if "there are any additional concerns needing an investigation".

A previous meeting heard that every Avon & Somerset Police misconduct case chaired by a chief constable in the last five years had seen the officer was sacked, or they had already resigned.

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The other cases all involved independent chairs.

By Adam Postans, Local Democracy Reporting Service

From page 1

Cyclist Tony Sharp, a member of the council’s Cycle Forum, said while the new cycle lanes were welcome, they had draw backs.

He said: “When driving the route at night, and in particular in the recent bad weather, the kerb defining the new cycleway doesn’t seem to be that clear. The cycleway and resurfaced road, both new black tarmac, can easily blend into each other.”

The audit also highlighted areas where debris and gravel became trapped by ramps on and off the cycle lanes –potentially causing skid risks for riders.

Tony said: “The cycleways do seem to stop and start a lot for driveways, and at those points there is a lot of silt and general rubbish building up – a puncture danger.”

South Gloucestershire Council says it will carry out regular street cleaning to prevent debris building up.

Other problems related to risks of collisions caused by motorists being confused by old white line markings left on the road, missing bollards and missing markings.

Yate Town councillor Chris Willmore called the cycle paths a “shambles”.

She said that even by March this year, many of the points raised by last September's safety audit had not been addressed with work.

Councillor Willmore also said the narrow carriageway caused by the cycle lanes was a concern, as wide lorries and buses now passed within two feet of each other.

She said: “We want a route that is safe for everyone.

"South Gloucestershire needs to get on and do what the safety audit says.

"We have an A-road surrounded by fields, with lots of heavy lorries and buses, which is now only just wide enough for them to pass, with a 50cm gap.

"We have to hope vehicles don’t end up hitting each other."

South Glos Liberal Democrat group leader Claire Young said the green painting was needed to make the edges of the cycle lanes clearer and appeared in the original plans, so she was disappointed it had not been done last year.

She said: "I have been approached by cyclists who are