A Derbyshire police officer has been sacked after her serious failures put an alleged domestic abuse victim “at risk of harm”.
PC Gemma Cumberlidge was dismissed without notice after “failing to adequately carry out her duties” while investigating a domestic abuse case and carrying out a stop and search on a teenager.
A misconduct hearing found it proven PC Cumberlidge failed to properly question an alleged victim of domestic violence when she visited a police station.
The officer failed to ask the woman all of the required questions as part of “vital” safeguarding checks and then put “No” as answers to most of the questions “without having answers from Person A (the alleged victim)”.
It was found she did not use an important device which electronically logs answers when interviewing victims, to help with any further investigations. The officer did not use a body-worn camera during the interview, which is a requirement of police policy.
The hearing also found that the officer failed to complete a stop and search exercise following a report to police that a young male was carrying a knife.
It was proven that the officer failed to complete a required search form following the physical check and did not officially record that she took a tablet from the teenager.
Derbyshire Constabulary said in a statement that sacking PC Cumberlidge was “the only appropriate sanction” following the misconduct hearing, which was chaired by an independent panel.
Deputy chief constable Simon Blatchly, said: “On two occasions she (PC Cumberlidge) was found to have acted in breach of the standards and that she was dishonest about her actions involving important safety processes.
“In particular, her lack of completion of a Public Protection Notice (PPN) was serious enough, without then fabricating the answers. A PPN is a vital document that allows both the victim and officers to fully understand the risk that may be posed and ensure that any relevant safeguarding is put in place.
“Acting in the manner that she did seriously breached the standards that we expect of officers and staff – to such an extent that the only appropriate sanction would be to dismiss her.
“These actions are not taken lightly; however, we will act to remove individuals from the organisation that do not uphold the values that we, and more importantly the public, expect.”
Ms Cumberlidge has the right to appeal her dismissal without notice.
During the hearing she is quoted as saying: “I hold myself to a high standard. I like to make sure that everything is done properly. I didn’t on this occasion and it is so unlike me. Having not done that makes it so frustrating because I am better than that.”
She told the panel that the PPN was done incorrectly by error and was not intentional.
It was heard the officer was facing “several personal challenges” during the incidents in 2022 and they were “entirely unrecognisable from her previous policing work”.
Report by Nigel Slater – Local Democracy Reporter
