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A Sussex police officer has been given a final written warning after they submitted study assessments which were not their own work to try and gain promotion.
A misconduct hearing was held at Sussex Police headquarters from 29 January to 3 February in front of a panel chaired by Surrey Police Assistant Chief Constable Peter Gardner, who directed that the officer would remain anonymous.
Misconduct hearings are now chaired by a police chief officer as amended by the Police (Conduct) (Amendment) Regulations 2024. This applies to cases where misconduct proceedings were issued on or after 7 May, 2024. The misconduct panel also comprises of two Independent Panel Members, appointed by the local policing body to allow for independence and impartiality during the proceedings from outside policing, representing the public.
The officer, referred to as PC W, was granted anonymity by the chair after making legal representations before the hearing. It is the responsibility of the chair to determine whether or not a hearing is partially or wholly held in public or in private, and whether any participant should be anonymised.
The hearing was told that the officer had allegedly committed an act of plagiarism in the submission of study assessments for promotion to the rank of sergeant.
They had submitted six work book assignments across five dates between November 2022 and June 2023 where the percentages of copied work ranged from 7% to 69%. Two parts of the last submission both contained 97% copied work.
The panel found this behaviour breached the standards of professional behaviour in respect of honesty and integrity and duties and responsibilities and this amounted to gross misconduct. The officer was given a final written warning for three years.
Detective Superintendent Andy Wolstenholme, Deputy head of Professional Standards said: "We expect our officers and staff to act with honesty and integrity, and in accordance with the Code of Ethics and the Standards of Professional Behaviour. We use various assessments to develop our supervisors and ensure they are skilled and competent in supporting their staff to best serve the public.
"Supervisors set the expected standards for our staff, and by passing off work completed by someone else as their own, this officer did not meet the standard expected, which is reflected in the findings by the panel.”