A teenage police officer who crashed into a car in the car park of Merseyside Police Training Academy has been dismissed after failing to report the incident.
Police constable James Potter, 18, drove his grey Ford Focus into a parked Citroen CI as he left the parking area of the Mather Avenue Training Centre in Allerton on November 9 2022. He and his passenger, a PC Anderson, got out of their vehicle and examined the damage before driving away.
Potter did not report the incident that day, and also failed to report it when he paraded at Wavertree Road on November 11. He continued to ignore the situation the following week, despite assuring PC Anderson that he was "dealing with the matter".
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He was served with misconduct papers on November 18 2022.
At an accelerated misconduct hearing at Merseyside Police Headquarters on May 11 2023, Potter told senior officers he did not report the crash because he was scared about how it would affect his career and car insurance.
He was found to have breached the standards of professional behaviour with regards to honesty and integrity and discreditable conduct, amounting to gross misconduct.
In a report, Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said: "I am satisfied that PC Potter knew that he had hit another car in the car park at the Merseyside Police Training Academy. I accept that PC Potter may not have known initially what he should have done, because he was young and an inexperienced driver, being only 18 years and that he has only passed his test three months prior to this collision.
"But I am also satisfied that PC Potter very quickly knew that the right thing to do was to report this accident because he was told by PC Anderson that he needed to report it. He confirmed this knowledge by telling PC Anderson that the matter was in hand."
She added: "The expectations of an ordinary decent person would be that PC Potter shouldreport the accident and that he had ample opportunity to report the accident, and that in not doing so his actions were dishonest."
She concluded: "It is my view that an officer with a finding of dishonesty against them will have a serious reputational risk on the police force and will undermine the trust and confidence in Merseyside Police."
Potter was dismissed without notice, and will now be placed on the College of Policing Barred List, which documents all people dismissed from policing through the Police Conduct and Performance Regulations.
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