Ex-Northamptonshire PC ‘sacked’ for breaking confidentiality rules racked up hours of time off by fiddling logs

An ex-police officer who logged in to a confidential database to check up on someone he was in a relationship with had racked up hours of unearned time off by fiddling logs.

Northamptonshire Police confirmed on Thursday (May 12) that a disciplinary panel had decided Michael Clark would have been sacked for gross misconduct had he not already left the force.

According to a statement from the force, the former constable breached the standards of professional behaviour in respect of systems access and work times.

It added that the panel heard how PC Clark had accessed the Niche system in November 2020 and conducted a search of a person with whom he was in a personal relationship and that it amounted to gross misconduct.

Details of the case issued previously said PC Clark had accessed the nominal of an individual named only as ‘KE,’ with whom he had started a relationship.

He accessed an incident relating to an offence where KE was listed as the aggrieved, which would have given him information to the individual and others involved.

Northamptonshire Police policy expressly prohibits accessing information on confidential systems relating to friends, family members, acquaintances, neighbours or celebrities.

The panel also heard that PC Clark had repeatedly failed to complete his rostered hours between September and December 2020.

A statement from the force added: "In failing to book off at the end of his working day, he had accrued time owed in lieu to which he was not entitled.

“The officer failed to provide any evidence that he was working his rostered hours and the panel concluded that PC Clark intended to manipulate the duty management system, and that he took time off that he knew or ought to have known he was not entitled to.”

Both allegations were found proven and amounted to gross misconduct.

The panel said: "Having regard to the seriousness of the proven misconduct the panel concluded that, had PC Clark remained a serving officer disciplinary action would have been instigated on grounds of gross misconduct and he would have been dismissed.”