By Tony O’Reilly-
A Nottinghamshire police officer, Sergeant Simon Spooner, has been dismissed without notice following a gross misconduct hearing for engaging in inappropriate and offensive behavior, including taking sexually explicit images of himself inside a police station.
The hearing took place at Nottinghamshire’s Police Sherwood Lodge HQ.
Sgt Spooner, who admitted to three breaches of professional standards, took the explicit pictures on two separate occasions while on duty at the police station.
The images were then sent to a woman he was in a relationship with on September 9, 2018, and December 11, 2018. This conduct violated strict policing standards regarding ‘authority, respect, and courtesy,’ as well as ‘discreditable conduct.’
In addition to the explicit photos, Sgt Spooner sent a series of private messages containing misogynistic language to the same woman. The offensive texts, sent between September 2020 and April 2022, included derogatory remarks about female officers within Nottinghamshire Police.
Such language breached professional standards related to ‘equality and diversity.’
Nottinghamshire Police’s Professional Standards Directorate uncovered Sgt Spooner’s actions, leading to an accelerated misconduct hearing chaired by Chief Constable Rob Nixon of Leicestershire Police.
During the hearing, Sgt Spooner acknowledged a “grave lack of judgment” and expressed embarrassment and shame for his actions. Despite recognizing his “exceptional” service over more than 20 years, Chief Constable Nixon emphasized that Sgt Spooner’s behavior was likely to undermine public confidence in policing and damage the reputation of the police service.
Superintendent Andrew Reynolds, of Nottinghamshire Police’s Professional Standards Directorate, stated, “This officer’s actions fell well short of the high professional standards that we expect at Nottinghamshire Police.
Sexist language of this kind cannot be allowed to go unchecked and will simply not be tolerated by Nottinghamshire Police.”