Chesterfield police officer guilty of gross misconduct after racist and homophobic remarks

A Chesterfield police officer has avoided dismissal despite being found guilty of gross misconduct over homophobic and racist remarks to colleagues.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

A hearing found Sergeant Darran Clarke’s conduct amounted to breaches of the Standards of Professional Behaviour in respect of ‘authority, respect and courtesy’ and ‘equality and diversity’.

He has been stripped of his sergeant’s rank but the panel stepped back from dismissal.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Panel chair Jayne Salt described a reduction in rank as an ‘appropriate and proportionate outcome’.

Chesterfield Police Station.Chesterfield Police Station.
Chesterfield Police Station.

The panel had also considered a final written warning, but Mrs Salt said this was not appropriate as it did not send the right message to the public about standards demanded of police officers.

The Derbyshire Constabulary officer, based at Chesterfield, faced a series of allegations he had behaved inappropriately towards junior colleagues who were under his supervision.

Sgt Clarke denied the breaches of standards during his misconduct hearing at the force’s Ripley headquarters this week.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But the panel found he was guilty of gross misconduct in relation to remarks about colleagues’ sexuality and race.

The hearing was told he had called LGBTQ+ officers ‘rainbow warriors’ and referred to the ‘mixed race children’ he and a black colleague would have.

Sgt Clarke was also found guilty of misconduct in relation to remarks he made about one of his PCSO’s weight, telling another officer he would have to pump bicycle tyres up before the PCSO went out on the beat riding it.

The panel also found him guilty of misconduct over comments he made about there being ‘too many women in the office’.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Other allegations, including that Sgt Clarke tapped a PCSO on the chest and said ‘good girl’ and invited the same officer into a male locker room, were found proven but the panel did not believe they amounted to misconduct.

Mrs Salt said there was a ‘pattern of behaviour’ which inappropriately highlighted colleagues’ race and sexuality.

Oliver Thorne, presenting counsel, said there was an ‘element of abuse of authority’ given Sgt Clarke’s supervisory role, and the case undermined efforts to make the police an inclusive environment as well as impacting on public perceptions of policing.

Guy Ladenburg, counsel for Sgt Clarke, told the hearing it was ‘quite isolated behaviour’ and there were a wide selection of character references in support of Sgt Clarke.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"It is a handful of comments set against a background of a very decent and popular supervisor,” he said.

He was described as a ‘kind and supportive’ and 'energetic and diligent’ officer ‘very widely liked’ by the public.

Mrs Salt agreed there was ‘significant mitigation’.

She said the panel did not believe Sgt Clarke was racist, homophobic or misogynistic, and instead guilty of ‘speaking before thinking and bad jokes’.

It was also accepted that it was not in the public interest to lose an experienced officer with a good record of service.

Many officers had spoken in support of Sgt Clarke, with one saying it was only because of his help that she had remained in the force.

Related topics: