A cop has been sacked after taking photos of women in a bar and telling a staff member: "If I wasn't a police officer, I would floor you".
Darren Nichol, who worked as a police constable for Northumbria Police, faced three allegations of misconduct following an incident at a bar in Newcastle while he was off duty.
The first allegation related to him using his mobile phone to take photographs of women within the bar, without their knowledge or consent.
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The second allegation related to him identifying himself as a police officer before becoming argumentative and abusive towards bar staff when he was asked to leave the premises.
Under allegation three, he allegedly threatened a member of staff outside the bar by telling him words to the effect of "If I wasn’t a police officer, I would floor you".
PC Nichol was accused of breaching the Standards of Professional Behaviour, following the incident on March 15 last year.
The breach in the first allegation was in relation to Authority, Respect and Courtesy only. The breach in the second and third allegations were in respect of Discreditable conduct.
He faced a misconduct hearing at Houghton Police Station in Houghton-le-Spring, which was held earlier this month between April 3 and April 5.
The hearing heard evidence from the bar manager and door supervisor of the bar where the incident took place as well as PC Nichol.
The panel found the bar manager and the door supervisor to be "credible and impressive witnesses" who had no motivation to lie and no ill will toward PC Nichol or towards the police. They said: "Their evidence was supported very significantly by the recorded footage at all stages of the evening's events."
However they said PC Nichol's own evidence was not credible as it contained significant inaccuracies concerning:
- Whether the door supervisor had thrown his clothing to the ground
- Whether any force had been used upon him by the door supervisor
- Whether they had tried to take a phone from him
The panel said they found PC Nichol’s evidence "implausible, unpersuasive and repeatedly factually inaccurate".
They did not find that there was sexual motivation in PC Nichol's photographing of females. They found that the photographs were taken deliberately and that his motivation was related to the "slating and slagging off" of others.
The hearing heard how members of the public were about to enter the bar when PC Nichol was being loudly abusive towards the door supervisor and bar manager. At this point, the officer's colleagues had to intervene.
The panel said colleagues, both former and current, were recorded upon the footage telling PC Nichol that the door supervisor was not "getting in his face". They said: "PC Nichol was told by members of his social group that he should stop his behaviour and 'That's enough you have gone too far come on start walking'.
The panel added: "The recorded footage provided extraneous evidence of PC Nichol's behaviour which was aggressive, abusive, argumentative and threatening."
They found that PC Nichol had used words to the effect of that "if it wasn't for this job, he would floor me" and concluded that nothing that the door supervisor had done had provoked him when he made the threat.
They said: "The door supervisor did his job professionally and as politely as he could do in all the circumstances."
The panel agreed that PC Nichol had identified himself as a police officer to secure favourable treatment or to obtain "leverage", as the door supervisor described it in evidence.
They said: "Given the proven factual matrix overall the panel did consider that PC Nichol’s conduct had engaged the Standard of Professional behaviour in respect Authority, Respect and Courtesy.
They said that, by his actions, he had invaded the privacy of others and photographed them without their knowledge or consent. They said that whilst his misconduct was off duty, his actions went far enough to engage the standard.
In relation to the other accusations, the panel said: "Mr Nichol had told the door supervisor that he was a police officer, the unwarranted accusations he made against the door supervisor including the suggestion they had thrown his clothing to the ground and that he should 'pick me coat up pick my f***ing coat up' brought discredit upon PC Nichol but more significantly upon his police force."
They considered that by his misconduct PC Nichol had "undoubtedly" discredited the police service and the evidence of the bar manager and door supervisor demonstrated that.
They recorded: "Threatening behaviour alone crossed the threshold for proceedings and acting (admittedly) abusively, aggressively and argumentatively with bar staff discredited the police service, and if as was the case it is witnessed by the public it will most certainly result in a loss of trust and confidence in policing.
"PC Nichol fell a long way short of 'maintaining the highest standards of behaviour' as expressed in the Code of Ethics".
The panel found that, upon a balance of probabilities, the misconduct had occurred as alleged.
They also found that, upon the basis of the proven facts, PC Nichol had breached both standards which were engaged and his behaviour should be categorised as misconduct.
PC Nichol was subject to a final written warning and the panel had no alternative sanction other than to dismiss him without notice.
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