Police officer fined woman, 19, and then asked her out for a coffee

A POLICE officer fined a 19-year-old for a Covid breach, then kept her phone number and asked her out for coffee.

She said she felt intimidated by his behaviour and reported him to his superiors.

On Thursday (Apr 8), a Misconduct Hearing was held in Dyfed-Powys Police under the Former Officer Regulations to consider the conduct of former Special Constable Jack Brennan.

The conduct in question occurred on 4th June 2020 when Mr Brennan, who was serving as a Special Police Sergeant at the time, issued a Fixed Penalty Notice to a member of the public for breaching the Coronavirus Restrictions.

Later that evening Mr Brennan sent an unsolicited text message to the member of the public, having obtained her mobile telephone number from the Fixed Penalty Notice paperwork.

He enquired whether she was single and asked her out for a cup of coffee.

The member of the public later reported this to police as she felt uncomfortable with Mr Brennan’s behaviour.

In obtaining personal information about a member of the public and attempting to initiate a relationship with someone he has met in the course of his duty Mr Brennan abused his position as a police officer and risked undermining public confidence in policing.

On becoming aware of the matter, the Professional Standards Department immediately made a referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) who decided to undertake an independent investigation.

A misconduct hearing panel chaired by a legally-qualified chair determined that Mr Brennan’s behaviour had breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour relating to Honesty & Integrity, Authority Respect & Courtesy, Confidentiality and Discreditable Conduct, and that it amounted to gross misconduct.

As a consequence, the panel determined that had Mr Brennan still been a serving special constable, he would have been dismissed from the service.

Mr Brennan will now be added to the College of Policing Barred List to prevent him from ever re-entering the police service.

Temporary Chief Constable Claire Parmenter stated “Dyfed-Powys Police expects the highest standards from all of its officers and staff and wants to ensure that members of the public can have complete trust and confidence in the force.

Where the conduct of officers and staff falls below these high standards, the public can be reassured that positive action will always be taken by the force.”