An “excellent” new police officer’s career is at risk after a disciplinary panel has found she urinated in a clothes shop fitting room while drunk off-duty and then lied about it.
Cleveland Police probationer Pc Amelia Shearer wept as the independent panel gave a gross misconduct judgment following the incident in the York branch of Urban Outfitters last September.
The retailer paid £492 to have the cubicle professionally cleaned and the store’s nine fitting rooms had to be closed afterwards, the hearing at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium had heard.
The panel’s legally qualified chair, Ogheneruona Iguyovwe said the allegations of discreditable conduct and breaches of honesty and integrity against the officer were proven.
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Ms Iguyovwe said: “Police officers are expected to maintain high standards of behaviour.
“They have to ask themselves if their actions might result in a member of the public losing confidence in the policing profession.
“Officers are required to act with integrity and honesty at all times.”
The panel was adjourned and will consider later on Wednesday whether she should lose her job, following submissions on her behalf and from her force.
During the three-day hearing, Pc Shearer strenuously denied the allegations that she urinated in the store and that she lied to her boss afterwards.
In less than four hours, she had a bottomless brunch at a bar, downing half a bottle of prosecco and three cocktails, then a Jack Daniels and Coke at another venue, before going to Urban Outfitters.
A member of staff gave evidence to say Pc Shearer asked if the store had toilets, was told “no”, but immediately went into a cubicle without any clothes to try on.
The employee radioed for his manager and when the officer came out, he and his boss saw a pool of what smelled like urine on the floor.
The Middlesbrough-based officer, who studied a Masters in criminal investigations before achieving her childhood dream of joining the force, denied urinating but did acknowledge she and her friend were “loud and giggly”.
She claimed to have used the changing rooms to adjust her bra – an account she did not give her superior, Inspector Christian Duree, when she spoke to him the next day on the phone.
Pc Shearer explained that she only gave him an “abridged version” of events, but the force accused her of lying to him and in subsequent interviews.
Olivia Checa-Dover, for the force, had told the panel the evidence against the officer was “overwhelmingly strong”, and the two members of staff who gave evidence were telling the truth.
Joan Smith, for the defendant, said she had consistently denied urinating.
Giving evidence about the events, Inspector Duree praised her performance as a probationer.
He told the hearing: “From my experience as a police officer she has been absolutely spot-on, an excellent officer.”