Final written warning for Northamptonshire police officer who exchanged 'flirty and sexual' messages with person he drove home after car break down
A Northamptonshire police officer has been given a final written warning, after he exchanged “flirty and sexual” messages with a person he drove home after their car broke down.
Russell Barnes was subject to a gross misconduct hearing at Northamptonshire Police headquarters on November 17 and 18.
According to the misconduct hearing report, Mr Barnes encountered a broken-down vehicle on November 9, 2021 and drove the driver home.
The report says the person – known only as Person A - knew of the officer from the force Twitter account. On the journey home, they had a selfie and continued to communicate. Thereafter they went on to exchange “friendly, flirty and sexual messages and images via social media platforms and emails”, before the messages moved to the officer’s private Instagram account.
The hearing report said: “The messages became more flirtatious over time and between November 2021 and March 2022, they exchanged images of their respective sexual or genital areas.”
In February or March 2022, the officer stopped replying to messages and then blocked the person or closed his account towards the end of 2022.
In April 2024, Person A got in touch via Mr Barnes’ work email account.
The report added: “The officer ignored them and subsequently set up his work email such that emails from Person A had gone straight into his junk email inbox.”
In May 2024, a complaint was filled by Person A about the lack of contact from Mr Barnes.
In a report submitted to the hearing panel, Mr Barnes said: “The dialogue continued and became flirtatious and sexual between us. This embarrasses me now and troubles me. Whilst I was by then single, I was flattered by [Person A’s] approaches and clear like of me and I reciprocated.”
The report added: “[The panel] recognised and accepted that Person A had instigated these types of sexualised messages and images, and the officer had not encouraged a physical sexual relationship. The panel determined that notwithstanding this, the officer had not asked person A to stop sending him sexual messages and images and he had exchanged images of his own.”
The panel found that the matters breached the standards of professional behaviour relating to integrity, discreditable conduct, orders and instructions and duties and responsibilities. Mr Barnes, who attended the hearing, admitted to the breaches.
It was alleged the conduct represented a lack of integrity, was otherwise in accordance with Northamptonshire Police Policy and undermined public confidence in policing.
The report added: “The panel considered that his communication with Person A will have posed a risk to the reputation of the force including potential damage to the work that the force had carried out to try and protect females.”
The panel decided that if members of the pubic were to learn of the officer’s conduct, the likelihood is that they would regard it as “extremely inappropriate”. They also formed the view that the outcome imposed will “deter others from similar conduct and reassure members of the public of the high standards to which police officers are rightfully held”.
Ultimately, the panel concluded that the matter proved to be gross misconduct and issued the officer with a final written warning, lasting five years.