The PSNI has been silent on allegations concerning a senior officer who took a vacuum cleaner from a police station and then tried to blame lower ranking personnel.
Dubbed ‘Hoovergate’, the PSNI officer - who is known but anonymous publicly for now - continues to work with enhanced security clearance, sources say, even though they conceded taking the vacuum cleaner before later returning it on the quiet.
The vacuum was taken over Christmas, 2020 and reported missing by contracted cleaning staff on January 6, 2021. A supervisor with the cleaning company first flagged it after being spoken to by his staff, Belfast Live reports.
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The officer allegedly sent an assurance the vacuum would be brought back, it is claimed, and had said one of the other officers had taken iy.
Another senior PSNI officer sough to resolve the situation, issuing emails to all staff making them aware of the missing vacuum.
The officer alleged to have taken the hoover would later deny knowledge of these emails, despite being specifically copied into them, sources say.
One email delivered on January 23, 2021, warning CCTV footage would be checked, seemed to have an effect as the officer returned the vacuum cleaner the next day, enclosed in a cardboard box.
The person was witnessed on CCTV footage bringing it back and the device itself was discovered by an officer in an area which had looked at several times before.
Efforts to contact the officer took some time, and it would be February 5, 2021, before he was confronted and admitted to removing the vacuum cleaner. Lower ranking officers refused his apology due to being offended.
Despite the situation being escalated to senior management at PSNI Headquarters, the officer in question was not sanctioned, and continues to serve with enhanced status.
