Special officer who told colleague to lie dismissed

A volunteer police officer has been dismissed after he encouraged a colleague to lie about being in possession of PAVA spray.

During a misconduct hearing, Bedfordshire Police Special Sgt Peter Charles was found to have breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour for honesty and integrity.

The panel heard that Mr Charles did not challenge a Special Constable after discovering they were in possession of the incapacitant spray but instead told them to secretly return it to police premises and be dishonest if challenged.

The hearing concluded that the behaviour constituted gross misconduct, and he was dismissed from the force and banned from returning to policing or similar professions.

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