Woman followed by Derbyshire police officer was worried for her security

It is alleged PC Jack Harrison, while on duty, followed a woman’s car in his police vehicle after seeing her leave a Co-op store in Wirksworth in September 2021.

The Matlock-based officer is then accused of using a police database to search the woman’s car to help him track down the woman on Instagram. It is suggested the reason for him following her on social media was that he found her “physically attractive” as the pair did not know each other – but this is denied by the officer.

PC Harrison denies any wrongdoing and believes his behaviour is within police guidelines of conduct.

The officer faces allegations at a Derbyshire police misconduct hearing that he used confidential policing information for a personal and a non-policing purpose. This is against the code of policing standards to which officers must adhere.

It is alleged PC Harrison carried out a PNC (Police National Computer) check on the woman’s car (registration plate) after following her for a shortwhile before heading in different directions. This would have provided the officer with basic details about the vehicle’s owner.

It is also alleged later in the day PC Harrison had followed the woman on Instagram. The woman says when she realised that the officer had followed her he also had, at some stage, reacted to her previous Instagram posts. One reaction was a flame emoji and another was a heart eyes emoji.

A misconduct hearing at Derbyshire police headquarters in Ripley is scheduled to last for three days. On the second day of the hearing, evidence was heard by both the complainant and the officer accused.

The woman, who can’t be named for legal reasons, told the hearing that being followed by the officer on social media shortly after the supermarket follow incident was a “very strange coincidence”.

She told an independent panel the first incident happened while she was purchasing food during her lunch break.

When asked what she was thinking when being followed by the officer after leaving the shop, she said: “I was just making sure I was doing the right thing. Doing all the things anyone else would do when being followed by a police vehicle.”

The woman was then asked to describe her thoughts when she realised he had followed on Instagram, roughly two hours after the supermarket incident.

She said: “I did recognise him. I recognised him as the officer I saw at the Co-op. At the time I was more worried if my (registration) plates had been run and what other information could have been taken. I did question how the officer got my name. It was a very weird situation to be in. It made me nervous as to what happened.”

The woman then said she had changed her privacy settings on Instagram soon after being followed by PC Harrison due to her security concerns. But she said she did not block him.

The woman also confirmed there was no contact made between her and PC Harrison during the supermarket incident. She said her friend’s mum – a former police officer – reported the situation to the police.

However, when giving evidence, PC Harrison denied the information seen from the PNC check was used to follow the woman on Instagram or search online for her name.

When asked why he first followed her car, he said he felt the car was “involved with criminality”.

He said: “It caught my eye as I was reversing. I thought the car was driving too fast when it was travelling at the back of the store.”

When watching CCTV footage of the moment he was following the woman at the Co-op, PC Harrison said: “The driver is going too fast over the bump there. This is where you form suspicion .”

But later he said he wasn’t fully confident that the driver was actually speeding as his earlier suspicions had “diminished”.

PC Harrison said he had knowledge that vehicle crime was a “main policing issue” in the Derbyshire Dales at the time of the incident which was the reason for his first initial concern.

But he was asked why he didn’t stop the vehicle because of his initial concnerns. He explained he carried out the PNC check once stopping his vehicle. After seeing the data, he then had “no suspicions” of any wrong-doing by the driver.

Speaking about Instagram, PC Harrison said he followed the woman later that day as she was listed as a “suggested follower” on the app. He says the pair “had above 30 mutual friends” on Instagram which was a further reason for following her.

When asked to explain what a flame emoji and a heart eyes emoji meant, he said: “It means something that is good.”

David Ring, legal representative for Derbyshire police, said: “It is clear the reason you sent the emojis to her posts is because you felt she was atrractive.” PC Harrison denied this claim.

He denied seeing the woman at the supermarket when entering the store to do his police enquiries. He said his mindset was on the job and did not see nor was thinking about attractive women while in the store.