Former detective guilty of gross misconduct

Allowing his police laptop to be used by friend has resulted in a former detective being found guilty of gross misconduct and getting a criminal record.

Former Detective Constable Nicholas Jones was stationed at Lincolnshire Police Headquarters in Nettleham when he allowed a personal acquaintance to use his laptop where she had access to force emails.

An Accelerated Misconduct Hearing held by Chief Constable Paul Gibson found this breached force standards and amounted to Discreditable Conduct. 

Jones was also charged, under the Computer Misuse Act, with causing a computer with intent to allow unauthorised access to a program or data in April 2024.

Jones admitted the breach and pleaded guilty to the criminal offence at Nottingham Magistrates’ court, but the former officer made no response to misconduct hearing. However, the panel heard from representatives that Jones had not intended to cause harm and that he had a record of good work from both managers and the public.

The Chief Constable found Jones’ actions and prosecution ‘seriously erodes the trust between this former officer and Lincolnshire Police’ and undermined the force’s reputation. 

Jones’ behaviour, therefore, amounted to gross misconduct and he would have been dismissed from the force had he now already resigned.

“It is imperative that the sanction reflects the seriousness of the finding and critically serves to regain and/or conserve public trust by taking proportionate sanctions against those who fall below the standards expected of an officer of the crown.”