Derbyshire police officer avoids sack despite abusive and threatening language

PC Amy Bartlett shed tears at a police misconduct hearing, at Derbyshire Constabulary’s Headquarters in Ripley, where she told a disciplinary panel she was “incredibly sorry” for her actions.

While off-duty, PC Bartlett told a woman in a personal, angry exchange that she would have “a world of all sorts of s***” coming to her. The conversation was recorded which prompted a criminal investigation and saw the officer convicted of a public order offence at Grimsby Magistrates’ Court last year.

It is alleged that the actions and the subsequent consequences were a breach of professional standards within policing and amounted to gross misconduct in her role as a police officer. Therefore, a misconduct hearing, chaired by an independent panel, was heard to make a decision on PC Bartlett’s future in the force.

The hearing heard how PC Bartlett had begun a relationship with another police officer from South Yorkshire Police and would often visit him in his Sheffield flat. But on the night of June 22, 2020, events happened which would see PC Bartlett’s future career in policing lie in jeopardy.

Just after 10pm, a member of the public decided to confront PC Bartlett’s boyfriend about noise coming from his property after previously writing him a letter about her concerns. At the time PC Bartlett was inside the property, was off-duty, and had a drink.

The conversation was recorded on a mobile phone, which was unknown to PC Bartlett and her boyfriend. PC Bartlett intervened and then made a number of threatening and abusive remarks to the woman. One of the comments included that the woman in question would have “a world of all sorts of s***” coming to her.

The hearing heard how the “exceptional officer” was convicted of a public order offence at Grimsby Magistrates’ Court months after the incident. It was said in the court hearing that PC Bartlett had shown remorse throughout the proceedings but as punishment was forced to pay hundreds of pounds in costs.

Speaking at the misconduct hearing, PC Bartlett apologised and cried while saying such an incident would “never happen again”.

She said: “I’m incredibly sorry for the language I used and the response to the situation that I gave. I’ve thought about it (my actions) every single day since. I’m not proud of what’s happened.”

The independent disciplinary panel, chaired by David Tyme, decided PC Bartlett should not be dismissed from her role at Derbyshire police despite her actions amounting to gross misconduct. Instead, PC Bartlett will be given a final written warning for a period of two years.

Speaking after the hearing, Independent Office for Police Conduct Regional Director Derrick Campbell said: “Alleged misconduct involving the threat of violence or intimidation and an abuse of authority is a serious matter, and both factors have the potential to undermine public trust in the individual officer and the police service generally. We concluded that there was a case to answer for gross misconduct and the panel has now found the allegations proven at that level.”