A senior police officer who sexually harassed five junior colleagues was posted to a unit that deals with abuse victims after avoiding the sack. The Mirror reports that West Mercia Police received a string of complaints about Detective Inspector Craig Smith for “acting inappropriately” towards female staff, including three tips from Crimestoppers.
However, despite a misconduct probe finding he had caused “physical, emotional and sexual harm”, he was let off with a final written warning and quietly transferred. He is believed to have been moved from his post in Telford, Shropshire, to a CID department in Shrewsbury, which handles a large volume of sexual abuse cases.
One victim, a detective constable who claims Smith sexually assaulted her, is taking the force to an employment tribunal. She had months off work with stress-related illnesses after reporting him.
The complaints about Smith related to social media messages or his behaviour on nights out. After one such incident, the detective constable reported him and a misconduct probe was launched into claims of “sexualised behaviour that could be considered an abuse of position”.
It was ruled her allegations did not meet the threshold for a criminal investigation, but they sparked the misconduct probe. Superintendent James Baker, who led it, said he noted similarities in reports from five of Smith’s female colleagues.
In his July 2020 report, he said Smith’s conduct had “resulted in physical, emotional and sexual harm to female colleagues who were junior in rank”. Misconduct was found but Supt Baker also noted Smith was a “strong performer at work”.
The final written warning was valid for 18 months, so Smith’s record is now wiped clean. West Mercia Police confirmed the misconduct probe took place but declined to comment further, saying: “There are currently connected legal proceedings ongoing.”
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