Northamptonshire Police officer sacked for 'misleading' boss over working from home without permission
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A police officer has been sacked for going home to work in the middle of a shift without permission when she should have been out on patrol.
Kettering-based response officer PC Amelia Tilley was accused of breaching standards of professional behaviour at a two-day hearing last month.
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Hide AdThe panel ruled PC Tilley had “purposely intended to give the impression she was working from her police vehicle to avoid getting in to trouble” and decided the outcome was dismissal without notice.
Details of the case published by Northamptonshire Police included claims PC Tilley had parked close to junction 10 of the A14 near Burton Latimer on November 13, 2021, but then drove home, where she completed some work tasks.
Police policy requires response officers to patrol visibly in order to provide reassurance to the public and in order to be available to respond dynamically to calls for assistance.
When contacted to ask about her location, PC Tilley told her Sergeant she was In Corby. She was then asked ‘Where in Corby?’ to which PC Tilley replied ‘parked up doing a child PPN’.
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Hide AdFollowing the hearing, held in public at the force HQ in Wootton Hall Park, the panel ruled: “PC Tilley was aware that she should not have gone home and text messages between the officer and her partner suggested that she was aware that such conduct carried a risk.
“PC Tilley did not seek her supervisor’s permission to work at home for a prolonged period and was not open and honest with her supervisor when asked for her location with the intention of disguising the fact she was at home.
“Both allegations were found to be a breach of the standards of professional behaviour and this amounted to misconduct.
"The panel finds that the officer purposely intended to give the impression she was working from her police vehicle to avoid getting in to trouble and this was a breach of the standards of professional behaviour of honesty and integrity and discreditable conduct, and that this amounted to gross misconduct.”