Former police officer, 40, who filmed herself performing a sex act in a station toilet and shared confidential data is banned from the job

• Former PC Clare Ogden, 40, filmed herself pleasuring herself while on duty 
• She also shared highly sensitive images of suspects she thought were ‘funny’ 
• The officer resigned from Cleveland Police before the disciplinary took place 
• Ogden said: ‘Don’t think I have experienced embarrassment and shame like it’

A disgraced female police officer who recorded a sexual video of herself in a police station toilet and leaked confidential police data for a ‘giggle’ has today been banned from policing.

Former PC Clare Ogden, 40, who resigned from Cleveland Police when the allegations came to light, has been made subject to further disciplinary action meaning that she can never return to uniform.

Last Thursday, Ogden was found guilty of two allegations of misconduct. But a decision on whether to simply record the findings or take further disciplinary measures was adjourned until today. 

Ogden had made a seven second sex tape of her pleasuring herself and two other films after clocking on for her shift at Redcar Police Station.

She also used her mobile phone to record highly classified information from the police computer and shared it with a colleague because ‘she found it amusing’.

Ogden admitted that making the sex tape ‘was a five to seven second moment of my life that I will regret for the rest of it’ and amounted to gross misconduct.

But she maintained that the sharing of the police data, while a breach of standards, only amounted to misconduct but because ‘it never went outside the police family’.

Former Cleveland Police officer Clare Ogden attending a police disciplinary hearing at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium last Wednesday. She is now barred from policing

The former Cleveland Police officer recorded a clip while pleasuring herself in the toilet of Redcar Police Station and also shared classified images of suspects which she thought were ‘funny’

‘IT’S A BIT FUNNY’: HOW FORMER PC OGDEN’S CONDUCT CAUGHT UP WITH HER

During the disciplinary hearing last week, the panel heard checks on Ogden’s personal mobile revealed 72 images of computer screens, evidence bags and crime scenes.

She told her bosses she had recorded these on her personal device because the battery on her work phone was flat.

But she also admitted she had shared a number of shots of the police computer screen with a colleague as a joke.

Data protection officers later assessed 34 of the images were in the most serious red category meaning the individuals involved, including a registered sex offender, were easily identifiable and could be seriously harmed if the images fell into the wrong hands, such as vigilante groups.

The ex-officer was interviewed about ten specimen pictures and in half the cases she said she had shared the images because ‘she thought they were funny’.

One was two images of a registered sex offender, one a normal face shot and the other of them wearing an ‘obvious wig’ which she thought ‘was a tiny bit funny’.

She also shared an image of Moonpig card containing a vengeful rhyme sent from a jilted partner to their ex’s new partner which she found ‘hilarious’, the panel heard.

Despite Ogden’s excuses, the misconduct panel found that both allegations against her amounted to gross misconduct and urged that the former constable should be placed on the barred list.

Panel chairman Stephen Gowland said: ‘The panel acknowledge that everyone, including police officers, can make mistakes. 

‘However, there is a point where matters stop being a mistake and become a habit or course of conduct – such as the sending of information for non-policing purposes.

‘The police are in a privileged position and have access to personal and sensitive information that the public rightly expect to be protected and used appropriately.

‘The public would rightly be concerned to learn of the use of data by the former officer for entertainment or other non-policing purposes.

‘The public would also take a dim view of an officer making a sexual video whilst on police premises and would not expect responsible police officers to engage in this sort of behaviour.

‘The most appropriate outcome is therefore a finding that the officer would have been dismissed had she still been a member of the police force and that this sanction does fulfil the purpose of the misconduct regime.

‘The panel take no personal pleasure in making findings of this type and do have empathy for any officer who finds themselves facing misconduct. This unfortunately cannot lead us to make a finding that does not fulfil the purpose of the misconduct regime.’

Before the list was created, disgraced officers fired from one force were free to get back into uniform by joining another one.

Barrister Mark Ley-Morgan, for Cleveland Police, had argued for the maximum penalty based on College of Policing guidelines which were bolstered following the Sarah Everard case.

He said: ‘Members of the public trust the police. They tell the police very sensitive things which are very embarrassing and incredibly sensitive often while they are in crisis.

‘For them to think police officers will be having a giggle about it is appalling. It really is. There are no other words to describe it. Clearly, there is an abuse of trust here.’

The video had been record while then PC Ogden was in full uniform and on duty when she went downstairs at the office to visit the bathroom.

Mr Ley-Morgan said: ‘That sort of behaviour is simply not acceptable and the message needs to go out it is not acceptable to anyone else who, for whatever reason, in wholly inappropriate behaviour like that at a police station.’

‘I am sure she is very sorry she has been caught. But she has not in fact understood the gravity of it. She was held in high regard by colleagues.

‘But the fact she is no longer an officer is definitely not mitigation. The fact she resigned in the face of these allegations, and I would say overwhelming evidence of misconduct is completely irrelevant.’

Miss Ogden, who had followed her mother and father into Cleveland Police, resigned in June 2022 ending a 17-year career in which she received a number of commendations.

Her barrister Aisling Byrnes said in mitigation a Commendation letter for her service had literally ‘landed on her doormat’ that very morning. 

Ogden told the hearing at The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, last week: ‘I went downstairs in the office to use the bathroom.

‘It was an ill-judged spur of the moment, in the moment, decision. I do not think I have experienced embarrassment or shame like it.

‘I just wish I had not done it. It was a five to seven second moment of my life that I will regret for the rest of it.’

Detective Chief Inspector John Bonner, from the force’s directorate of standards and ethics, said: ‘Former police officer Clare Ogden was subject of an investigation … following allegations that she had breached the confidentiality of police data and was involved in sexual misconduct whilst on duty. She resigned from the force during the investigation.

‘Despite her resignation and there being no criminal offences found, Cleveland Police has continued to investigate her under police conduct regulations, seeking her bar from the police service.

‘The panels determination, that Clare Ogden would have been dismissed had she still been a serving police officer, protects and safeguards the public by ensuring she is permanently prevented from any future employment in the police service.

‘The directorate of standards and ethics will continue to pursue the minority of Police officers and staff who conduct themselves in a manner that does not abide by the expected standards of professional behaviour.’

Source: Read Full Article