A disgraced ex- police officer has been banned from the force for life after she was caught filming herself performing a solo sex act while on duty. Claire Ogden, 40, had been working as an officer at Cleveland Police for 17 years when she recorded an seven second erotic video in the toilet of her station whilst in uniform.
A two-day misconduct tribunal concluded that she had defied the standards of professional behaviour for confidentiality and discreditable conduct, the Mirror reports. The shamed officer quit the force in June after her X-rated video came to light, but the tribunal established that she would have been fired without notice had she still been working at the force.
Regretful Ms Ogden issued a statement at the hearing at Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough: "I'm devastated if I could turn back time and change my actions I would. I don't think I can put into words how sorry I am. I've lain awake at night for 20 months thinking I should have done this, I should have done that."
She added: "I don't think I have experienced embarrassment and shame like it. I just wish I hadn't done it. It was a five-to-seven-second moment of my life that I will regret for the rest of it."
Consequently, Ogden has been told she will never be able to work for any police force in the country again as her name has been added to a barred list. The shamed police officer, who has been a cop since 2004, had previously received numerous commendations throughout her time on the force.
Ogden formally agreed that her behaviour constituted misconduct. She also accepted that she had filmed sensitive information on her own smartphone and had sent some of it on to a third party, because she found it humorous, but argued that while this breached confidentiality, it was only misconduct and not gross.
However, the panel disagreed with her claim and determined the sharing of the information was gross misconduct. On Ogden's phone, five videos and 72 photos were discovered, with 34 of them being identified as including personal identifiers that could result in harm to an individual.
One of the images Ogden sent to an unnamed officer included personal information about registered sex offender, along with two photos of him, one of his normal appearance and one of him sporting a wig.
The decision, published on the force's website, states: "The panel acknowledge that everyone including police officers can make mistakes, however there is a point where matters stop being a mistake and become a habit or course of conduct such as the sending of information for non-policing purposes.
"The police are in a privileged position and have access to personal and sensitive information that the public rightly expect to be protected and used appropriately. The public would rightly be concerned to learn of the use of data by the former officer for entertainment or other non-poling purposes.
"The public would also take a dim view of an officer making a sexual video whilst on police premises and would not expect responsible police officers to engage in this sort of behaviour. This matter concerns multiple breaches of the standards and clearly could have an impact on public confidence in policing."
Detective Chief Inspector John Bonner, Directorate of Standards & Ethics, added: “The Directorate of Standards and Ethics will continue to pursue the minority of Police officers and staff who conduct themselves in a manner that does not abide by the expected Standards of Professional Behaviour.”
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