Police officer in domestic incident

A police officer damaged his partner’s property in a “sustained period of aggression” while employed with Derbyshire Police.

The now former officer PC Reece Beattie was convicted of causing criminal damage at Leicester Crown Court in March after causing his partner “substantial distress” following a night of aggression.

Misconduct hearing papers reveal Beattie acted aggressively and drunk in an incident in March 2023 which included banging his head onto a wall and punching a hole in the wall of his partner’s home.

During the “domestic” incident, Beattie threw his phone towards her which hit the blinds and caused damage, damaged a light switch and broke the door of a cabinet which had a boiler inside.

This happened while he was employed as a police officer at Derbyshire police, for which he started his role in September 2021. He was suspended from his job in 2023, papers state.

Derbyshire Police Chief Constable Rachel Swann has concluded that former PC Beattie would have been dismissed had he not resigned prior to the misconduct hearing and strongly condemned his gross misconduct behaviour as “wholly unacceptable”.

Chief Cons Swann said Beattie’s actions would cause harm in public confidence to policing in general and in Derbyshire police as a force.

Her outcome reads: “I have no hesitation in confirming my view that the former officer’s conviction is something which merits dismissal; and accordingly I find that the conduct amounts to gross misconduct.

“My assessment of the conduct which formed the basis of the offence is that it was a sustained period of aggression towards a partner, in drink, in the middle of the night. It caused her substantial distress.  It is wholly unacceptable for a police officer to behave in such a way, whether or not that results in a conviction for a criminal offence.

“I take into account the fact that harm is likely to be done to public confidence to policing and in Derbyshire Constabulary by this conviction. There is significant public concern around the ability of the police to protect women and girls in recent years. It is inevitable that the reputational harm done by this conviction would be compounded if the public knew that the conduct had the effect of putting a lone female in fear, late at night by the drunken aggression of the former officer.”

Following a guilty plea at Leicester Crown Court, papers state Beattie was sentenced to a 12-month community order with a requirement to complete 150 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay costs of £500 to Crown Prosecution Service.