A police officer has been dismissed from Wiltshire Police after he assaulted a member of the public and then used his work email to send them abusive messages.
During the hearing at Gablecross Police Station in Swindon today, the Chief Constable Kier Pritchard found PC Geoff Goodway guilty of gross misconduct on four allegations resulting in the decision to dismiss him without notice. He chose not to be present at the hearing.
In July, Goodway pleaded guilty to the common assault of a member of the public in a criminal court. He was sentenced to a community order and fined for two counts of common assault. These incidents did not take place while he was on duty.
Further to the offence, he was also found to have been sending abusive emails from the Wiltshire Police email system to the same member of the public he assaulted.
The Chief Constable also heard that Goodway also sent an explicit image via police email system to a member of staff while on duty and neglected to deal with the seizure of cash from an investigation as required by the force’s guidelines.
Goodway, 43, who had been a police officer since 2009 and was last stationed in Devizes, was suspended from the force after his arrest for the common assault charges in July 2017.
Following the special hearing today, Chief Constable Kier Pritchard said: “I believe the majority of police officers, staff and volunteers have the best intentions at heart in both their professional and personal lives – delivering the best they can day in day out.
“The public rightly expect all police officers and staff to operate to the highest standards of professional conduct – equally, our training and culture also demands this to be the case and I fully understand that any slight deterioration in such standards can have a detrimental impact on the highest levels of trust and confidence which we enjoy with our local communities and the wider national public.
“Whilst today is a disappointing one, I hope the outcome of this hearing provides confidence to the public that when a breach of our standards are appropriately identified or raised directly with us we will be robust but fair in how we consider and deal with any complaint.
“The Code of Ethics that all officers and staff work within, clearly sets out the behaviour that is expected by all of us whether on or off duty.
“I fully acknowledge that this period has been very difficult for all parties concerned and I hope that the outcome of today’s hearing will provide some satisfactory closure for the victims and all of those involved in this case.”
