Police officer dismissed following misconduct hearing

Tuesday, 16 July 2024 06:10

By Andy Munns

A Wiltshire police officer has been dismissed without notice after a hearing found his behaviour amounted to gross misconduct.

The hearing, held at Wiltshire Police Headquarters between 8th and 11th July 2024 and chaired by Assistant Chief Constable Deb Smith, concluded that PC James Aubrey's actions breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour for police officers of discreditable conduct.

Between November 2022 and April 2023, in a series of incidents taking place both on and off-duty, PC Aubrey was alleged to have acted in a sexually inappropriate manner towards a colleague and made sexual contact with her without her consent. The panel considered six allegations against PC Aubrey; upholding two allegations and partially upholding a further allegation. As a result, PC Aubrey was dismissed without notice. He will also be placed on the national barred list, which means he will not be able to work in policing in the future.*

Deputy Chief Constable Craig Dibdin said “PC Aubrey’s actions were quite frankly disgusting. Not only did they fall well below the standards that we expect, and that our communities expect, from our officers and staff, they also showed a total lack of respect for a colleague.

“We expect nothing but the highest standards of professionalism and conduct both on and off-duty and we will continue to root out those that, through their actions, seek to undermine the trust and confidence our communities place in us.

“I’d like to thank the witnesses in this case for their courage in coming forward to give evidence and for all those that have supported this investigation and ensured that PC Aubrey is held to account for his behaviour and actions. We encourage all members of our organisation to report behaviour to us that falls short of the high level of professionalism that we set and that the public rightly expect of us”.

* In line with the Police Conduct regulations 2020, the officer has a period of 10 working days to appeal the outcome.