An investigation has found a police officer engaged in sexual activity with a member of the public while on duty.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority oversaw a police investigation into the conduct of two officers after it received information about “inappropriate activity” between them and a civilian on duty. The findings of the investigation were released on Wednesday.
The officers, referred to as Officer A and Officer B, were working a night shift when the incident occurred.
In the early morning on an undisclosed date, the officers conducted a routine traffic stop of a woman, identified as Ms Z, and queried her in the police database.
Officer A subsequently contacted Ms Z by text message, resulting in an “inappropriate conversation” that Officer B was unaware of.
Several further queries of Ms Z were made separately in the police database by both officers towards the end of their shift.
The following night, while again on duty, the officers received a call from Ms Z, who was intoxicated and requested a ride home from work. They picked her up and drove her to her residence where she then invited both officers inside.
Officer B, feeling uncomfortable with the situation, chose to return to the patrol car, while Officer A remained inside for an “extended period”.
During that time, Officer A and Ms Z engaged in consensual sexual activity. The investigation found that Officer A returned to Ms Z’s residence on two additional occasions while on duty and engaged in further sexual activity.
On one occasion, he left police equipment behind and had to return to retrieve it after being contacted by Ms Z.
Officer A also shared digital images of police activity with Ms Z and conducted a “large number” of further queries of her in the police database.
The investigation focused on the officers’ alleged misuse of the police database and sharing of police information but found there was insufficient evidence to prove a criminal offence.
Officer A resigned from police during the investigation, while Officer B was subject to a confidential employment process.
