Inspector who kicked officer's bottom gets warning

A police inspector who kicked a junior officer's bottom has been given a final written warning.

Insp James Harper, who works for Thames Valley Police (TVP), said the woman needed "a kick up the backside" and admitted he kicked her with "minimal" contact in early 2023.

She said it was "around her not completing a job on time" but she did not think it was a joke and did not know how to react.

A panel found the 47-year-old, who is based in Cowley, Oxford, had an "exemplary record" after joining TVP in 2004, and while his behaviour was "momentary and ill-considered", he immediately apologised.

It said a five-year written warning was "sufficient to maintain public confidence…and the high standards that are reasonably expected of police officers by the public".

The panel also found he made a comment about two female colleagues "popping their cherry" by using a police app on their mobile phones for the first time.

One said she was "not bothered" by it but the other said she was "embarrassed" and "considered it inappropriate".

Another said they thought the remark was "weird" and "gross".

Insp Harper apologised and said that he had not intended to upset anyone and, while he accepted it could have sexual connotations, he had not meant it in that way.

He had been suspended for about 15 months by the time the panel presided over 12 allegations last month.

The panel, which included Wiltshire Police's former deputy chief constable Paul Mills, found the kick amounted to gross misconduct and said the "popping their cherry" comment amounted to misconduct. It dismissed the other 10.

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