A female police officer who urinated in the fitting room of a high street clothes shop while drunk off-duty faces being sacked.
An independent disciplinary panel found probationer PC Amelia Shearer guilty of gross misconduct following the incident at York's Urban Outfitters in September 2021.
During a three-day hearing at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium, the panel heard how Ms Shearer consumed several alcoholic drinks in a four-hour period.
She downed half a bottle of prosecco and three cocktails at a bottomless brunch, then a Jack Daniels and Coke at another venue, before going to Urban Outfitters.
A member of staff at the clothes shop gave evidence to say Ms Shearer asked if the store had toilets, was told “no”, but immediately went into a cubicle without any clothes to try on.
The employee radioed for his manager and when the officer came out, he and his boss saw a pool of what smelled like urine on the floor.
Urban Outfitters said it paid £492 to have the cubicle professionally cleaned and the store’s nine fitting rooms had to be closed afterwards.
The Middlesbrough-based officer, who studied a master’s degree in criminal investigations before achieving her childhood dream of joining the force, denied urinating but did acknowledge she and her friend were “loud and giggly”.
She claimed to have used the changing rooms to adjust her bra – an account she did not give her superior, Inspector Christian Duree, when she spoke to him the next day on the phone.
Ms Shearer explained that she only gave him an “abridged version” of events, but the force accused her of lying to him and in subsequent interviews.
Olivia Checa-Dover, for the force, had told the panel the evidence against the officer was “overwhelmingly strong”, and the two members of staff who gave evidence were telling the truth.
Joan Smith, representing Ms Shearer, said she had consistently denied urinating.
Giving evidence about the events, Inspector Duree praised her performance as a probationer. He told the hearing: “From my experience as a police officer she has been absolutely spot-on, an excellent officer.”
The panel’s legally qualified chair, Ogheneruona Iguyovwe, said the allegations of discreditable conduct and breaches of honesty and integrity against the officer were proven.
Ms Iguyovwe said: “Police officers are expected to maintain high standards of behaviour. They have to ask themselves if their actions might result in a member of the public losing confidence in the policing profession.
“Officers are required to act with integrity and honesty at all times.”
The panel was adjourned and due to consider later on Wednesday whether she should lose her job, following submissions on her behalf and from her force.
