Shamed police officer inappropriately touched staff and made sexual remarks

Derbyshire Police Headquarters stock image. Image by LDRS/Nigel Slater.

By Nigel Slater – Local Democracy Reporting Service

A Derbyshire police officer slapped a female colleague’s buttock while on duty, inappropriately touched other staff and made disturbing sexual remarks to others.

Police Constable Alexander Kimber “failed to maintain a professional boundary and/or had the potential to cause colleagues to feel harassed”, a misconduct hearing ruled.

In one incident the officer, who has since resigned from the force, slapped a colleague’s buttock, while the hearing was told he had on one or more occasions commented on one person’s social media posts “with emojis and/ or a flame emoji”.

Derbyshire Police said the former officer’s actions had “no place in policing”.

Papers from the misconduct hearing, which was held last month, revealed Mr Kimber told one of his colleagues when she was not wearing her PPE “words to the effect of ‘It’s nice to see you without your kit on’”.

It was also heard that the officer once poked the same woman’s left buttock and later told her on SnapChat that poking her had “made my day”.

Papers state he slapped a fellow colleague’s bottom whilst on duty and sent her emojis on social media in relation to her looks.

Kimber also messaged another colleague saying: “You’ve done a good job these past few days … and it helps that you’re good to look at.”

And to another about a fellow colleague, he messaged “words to the effect of ‘tell her she needs to show me her boobs for being late’”.

Kimber’s behaviour represented “discriminatory and/or harassing behaviour on the grounds of your colleagues’ sex”, the misconduct hearing ruled.

It concluded that PC Kimber would have been dismissed had he not resigned before the hearing took place.

Mr Kimber accepted gross misconduct in relation to the offences. He was quoted in papers as saying: “I now see how my actions were inappropriate, and I am extremely remorseful.

“This type of behaviour will never happen again, and I have sought therapy to understand my actions and to better understand boundaries.”

But he added: “I know I have made mistakes in my actions towards my colleagues but my actions have never been malicious nor meant to cause offence.”

Derbyshire Police deputy chief constable Simon Blatchly said: “The behaviour that Mr Kimber displayed is totally unacceptable and has no place in policing.

“Officers are held to a high standard – whether when dealing with the public or their colleagues.

“The repeated and targeted actions towards female colleagues was wrong and it is right that, had he not already resigned, he would have been removed from service.”

The chair of the misconduct hearing said publication of the former officer’s name was in the public interest and “outweighed his own interests in this regard”.