London: An Indian-origin police officer in the West Midlands Police has been found guilty of gross misconduct after she was found to have concocted a detailed story concerning discriminatory behaviour within the force for personal benefit to rise up the ranks.
Police Sergeant Sarah Srivastava's case dates back to November 2019 when she attended a meeting for a job promotion and most recently resulted in a judicial review ruling in the High Court in Birmingham earlier this month. The officer admitted to lying to a promotion panel about how she proactively tackled a case of discrimination.
“The officer had been asked to ‘Give an example of how you considered a range of values and needs when making a decision that affects a group of people'. In response, she had stated that there had been an occasion on which members of her team had made discriminatory comments to a transgender officer which she had challenged,” according to a court judgment document.
“When questioned further, the officer had admitted that the transphobic incident had not occurred and that her account at the interview had been entirely untrue,” it reads.
The matter was referred to the West Midlands Police Professional Standards Department and Srivastava was interviewed in January 2020 followed by a misconduct hearing in October that year. The officer faced disciplinary action and the Police Misconduct Panel decided to issue her with a final written warning.
“Without doubt and we want to make this very clear Sergeant Srivastava that the panel found that your behaviour was reprehensible and serious but the question to be determined by the panel was how serious your gross misconduct was,” notes the panel's assessment in the court document.
As the Appropriate Authority (AA) in such cases was of the view that the gross misconduct should amount to dismissal without notice, the West Midlands Police took its application to the level of a High Court judicial review which concluded on December 2.
Srivastava has since expressed regret at having presented an “embellished” account and insisted that her false account had not been planned prior to the interview or intended to cause harm.
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