A police constable has been sacked for kissing a student and sending her an unprompted FaceTime call with an erection.
PC Graham Salt, 39, was out driving with a 22-year-old student officer when he pulled over claiming he had spotted something in a field. He then asked the student, who had only just started her 10 week tutor period, “What would you do if I kissed you now, would your head fall off?”.
Salt then took his seatbelt off, pulled her towards him and kissed her. The trainee said the kiss was both uninvited and unwelcome but he pulled over again at Pimbo Industrial Estate, in Skelmersdale, and put his hand on her knee without consent.
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The officer, who worked for Lancashire police, is reported to have noticed the student felt uncomfortable and added: "why have you gone shy on me." He later made a FaceTime call during which he had an erection and asked her "what she was going to do about it", LancsLive reports.
The student then ended the call. Details of the call were shared during a police hearing when Salt claimed the call was simply to check if she was okay.
The constable was brought before a police misconduct hearing where he admitted kissing his fellow officer but denied doing so without her consent. However, he admitted kissing his colleague while on duty breached the required conduct and therefore constituted misconduct.
A misconduct panel hearing was held to decide whether Salt was guilty of misconduct and what sanctions to take if so. They noted he was previously of good character but noted his evidence changed over time, while the other officer was considered to be a "credible witness".
The panel noted: "[Salt] was unconvincing in respect of other parts of his evidence e.g. he stated that he and the PC had a conversation at the police station and he told her he was wrong in respect of matters and she accepted that and they both moved on. Nevertheless, he then contacted her via FaceTime to “make sure she was ok”. There was no need for such further contact given their resolution of the matter at the police station.
"The panel did not find the officer to be a convincing witness. His overall evidence lacked credibility. He was an unreliable witness who tried to avoid any difficult questions. "
The panel ruled that Salt had not set out to exploit the junior officer but instead completely misinterpreted the situation. They said there had been flirtatious comments but that this was in an atmosphere he had created and that the woman had never shown any interest in him.
They added: "This was not a malicious act but the officer has totally and inappropriately misjudged a situation which he should never have created in the first place. There was an unequal power imbalance which he should have recognised. He has acknowledged that he had the greater responsibility of the two of them. He should have been assisting a young officer finding her feet in the Force rather than viewing her as a potential sexual partner.
"The officer should not have engaged in flirtatious behaviour with a fellow officer and should certainly not have acted on it. He should not have attempted to pursue a relationship with her while on duty. He was neglecting his policing responsibilities and duties at that time. He should have been searching for a possibly injured individual rather than flirting with an officer and trying to kiss her."
They also noted that trainee officer suffered harm to the start of her career, while Salt's conduct will have undermined general public confidence in policing and the perception of Lancashire Constabulary. They concluded that his actions amounted to gross misconduct and that the only appropriate sanction was immediate dismissal.
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