Leicestershire officer who accessed ‘immature’ confidential files

A police officer acted out of “lack of judgment and immaturity” when he accessed confidential files, a gross misconduct hearing has concluded.

PC Oliver Platts, of Leicestershire Police, was given a final written warning for his behaviour.

It was found to have seen 221 different reports of a policing system “with no police purpose or legal authority” over 10 separate days in June 2023.

PC Platts admitted the breaches and told the panel overseeing the hearing it was “a case of misplaced enthusiasm on (his) behalf”.

He was found to have accessed reports from the police’s Storm system, where incidents are recorded and managed, while at Loughborough station.

PC Platts accepted there was no “police purpose” for viewing the files.

He told the panel that he did so “solely because of (his) passion for the job that (he) has worked so hard to achieve”.

The panel members agreed that there was no “nefarious motive” behind his behaviour.

However, they also ruled that the actions amounted to gross misconduct and breached the expected standards of confidentiality, orders and instructions and creditable conduct.

They considered that the reputational damage to Leicestershire Police as a result of these incidents was “low” and public confidence in the force would not be “largely or lastingly shaken by the facts of this case”.

They generally rated the severity of his actions as “average”.

The panel concluded that the public “would recognize that PC Platts had no malicious intent and acted out of good judgment and immaturity”.

For this reason, they felt that a final written warning was more appropriate than dismissal, which would remain in place for four years.

Det Supt Alison Tompkins, Head of Professional Standards, said: “Any access to information held by the force should only be made for a legitimate policing purpose.

“All officers and staff are provided with initial training around the correct use of information and we continue to share messages in place about the importance of this.”