A former chief constable who made inappropriate sexual remarks to colleagues has been barred indefinitely from serving after being found guilty of gross misconduct.
Mike Veale, 57, is a former chief constable of Cleveland and Wiltshire police forces. At Wiltshire, he oversaw Operation Conifer, the investigation into allegations that the late former prime minister Ted Heath was a child sexual abuser.
A disciplinary panel last month judged that Veale made unwanted sexual remarks to colleagues during his time as head of Cleveland police in 2018. The remarks included telling a woman: “Go on, you can touch yourself now.”
Cleveland’s police and crime commissioner, Steve Turner, has backed the panel’s findings and ruled that Veale would have been dismissed and should be put on the list of officers banned from serving indefinitely.
Veale resigned from the force in January 2019 after 10 months in charge. He did not attend the 25-minute hearing at the police headquarters in Middlesbrough on Monday.
Turner said: “Anything short of dismissal would send a message to the public and police that such conduct is not taken seriously within the police. It very much is taken seriously.”
The disciplinary hearing was told last month that Veale was in a car with a female colleague – referred to as Witness B – in November 2018 when he read out a complimentary email he had received from a local councillor.
He looked at her lap and said: “Go on, you can touch yourself now,” the panel was told.
Veale was also found to have commented inappropriately in front of others, during a visit to Norfolk police, that the same female colleague and a male senior officer, referred to as Witness C, were “bedfellows – metaphorically speaking or otherwise” before laughing.
Turner said Veale should have known the force was a “workplace where rumours abound”. He said: “There is a high risk, if a chief constable was seen to engage in such behaviour, he would set the tone for the rest of the force.”
Turner found disciplinary action was designed to maintain public confidence, uphold policing standards and protect the public and was justified in this case.
He said his decision was separate from a previous finding that Veale “lied to senior colleagues” before joining Cleveland police about damaging his mobile phone while playing golf.
Turner said Veale claimed his phone had been run over when he had accidentally broken it by hitting it.
In a statement after the hearing, Turner said: “I recognise that the investigation into Mr Veale’s conduct and the subsequent proceedings have taken longer than anticipated, and longer than anyone would have wanted, to come to a resolution. I thank all involved for their patience and cooperation.”
After leaving Cleveland police, Veale was an adviser to the Leicestershire police and crime commissioner but resigned from that role earlier this year.
