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Cop Keeps Job After On-Duty Affair with Subordinate Colleague
18 Nov
Summary
- Police officer had sexual relationship with junior colleague on duty
- Misconduct panel gave final written warning, not dismissal
- Judge ruled panel's decision was reasonable given officer's mental health issues
In a recent ruling, a High Court judge has backed the decision of a police misconduct panel to give a final written warning to a Greater Manchester officer who had sex with a junior colleague while on duty in 2020.
The officer, Insp Alex Taylor, began a relationship with a police community support officer (PCSO) earlier that year, exchanging flirtatious and sexual messages on WhatsApp. On April 20, 2020, he met the off-duty PCSO and they had sex on a sofa at the police premises.
The panel found that Taylor had "failed to act with self-control or professionalism" and created a "toxic working environment" for his junior colleagues. However, they opted for a final written warning rather than dismissal, citing psychiatric evidence that Taylor's decision-making was impaired due to mental health issues at the time.
In dismissing the police force's challenge to the panel's decision, the High Court judge ruled that the panel's conclusion was a "permissible option" given the circumstances, including the consensual nature of the relationship and its short-lived duration.
