Here is yet another example of how, rather like computer- game characters, Police Officers who misconduct themselves and perpetrate assaults or actions which if carried out by a ‘civilian’ would probably be considered criminal, are effectively let off the hook by only having to face professional sanctions – in this case a demotion for Hertfordshire Constabulary Police Sergeant Peter Glover to the rank of Constable.
Glover was found to have committed gross misconduct by using force which was neither “necessary, proportionate or reasonable” when he punched a detainee three times in the head, whilst the detainee was on a bed in a cell at Hatfield Police Station, in February 2023.
The disciplinary panel censured Sergeant Glover’s “failure to make any attempt to de-escalate” or to give any warning before his “unexpected” use of force began.
In relegating Glover to the rank of Constable, rather than dismissing him – which I would argue was the appropriate sanction in the circumstances – the panel said that Glover was not “fundamentally unfit” to be an Officer, but that he had “fallen short with regards to judgment and management in a supervisory role”.
To my mind, the offence that the Officer committed which would have been serious even were he only a Constable in the first place, was all the more aggravated given the responsibility he had not only for leadership and setting the tone for his colleagues, but his duty to proactively ensure the safety and wellbeing of detainees in Police custody – many of whom are in a very vulnerable state due to consumption of alcohol, mental health disturbance or other factors.
Sadly, all too many Officers seem to forget their duty of care and rather than acting as custodians of the welfare of detainees, they fall all too easily into the role of callous and bullying jailors.
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