Hammersmith Police Officer Harassed Jogger
Receives final warning after being found guilty of gross misconduct
The British Transport Police officer was off duty at the time of the offence
A serving British Transport Police (BTP) officer based in Hammersmith has received a final written warning, following a misconduct hearing held between 17 and 19 May.
PC Imran Aftab faced three allegations at the hearing in York that he had breached the standards of professional behaviour. Investigation had been undertaken by BTP’s Professional Standards Department and the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC).
The independent panel found the officer had a case proven for the allegations.
He was found to have approached a lone female jogger in Hammersmith during April last year while he was off duty and harassed her to give him his number while showing her his warrant card. He later sent her six text messages.
The panel decided he had used his warrant card inappropriately and made comments that were deemed to be racist when he told the woman she was ‘too curvy to be Asian’. He was also found guilty of breaching government guidelines on social distancing when he attempted to hug the woman.
IOPC Regional Director, Sal Naseem, said, “Police officers abusing their position for sexual purposes erodes the trust and confidence of the public. It has no place in policing.
“Police officers hold a position of trust and there are policies and guidance in place to ensure they maintain professional boundaries between themselves and members of the public.
"By identifying himself as a BTP police officer and abusing his position to engage with this woman meant PC Aftab crossed that line. His behaviour was unacceptable.
“The sanction illustrates how seriously this kind of behaviour is viewed.”
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
May 27, 2021
Related links
|