Police officer sacked for 'depraved behaviour' involving vulnerable woman
"Not only has he disgraced himself, but his depraved behaviour dishonours policing."
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A police officer has been fired for having an "improper relationship" with a vulnerable woman which a senior cop has branded "depraved".
Paul Banks, who worked as a Police Constable with Greater Manchester Police, told the woman to create an email account before he accessed explicit videos and pictures she had uploaded to it, a Gross Miscondust Meeting heard.
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The officer clicked on these more than 200 times and failed to report them to his colleagues.
His own colleagues at Greater Manchester Police rooted him out and reported him to the force’s Professional Standards Branch.
Banks has now been sacked without notice following the Gross Misconduct Meeting held on January 24 and 25. He had been on restricted duties since the investigation began in December 2020, reports Manchester Evening News.
The man, who worked out of a police station in Salford, Greater Manchester, "abused his position of trust," the constabulary said today.
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Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Allen, head of Greater Manchester Police’s (GMP) Professional Standards Branch, said: "Banks knew full well that his conduct was egregiously wrong.
"By cultivating an improper relationship with a vulnerable member of the public who he met in the course of his policing duties, the officer has been deservedly sacked from GMP. Not only has he disgraced himself, but his depraved behaviour dishonours policing and undermines the principled endeavours of his colleagues, who everyday do a valiant job catching criminals and protecting our communities.
"Indeed, it was Banks’ own colleagues who sensed something was amiss and triggered the first step in a process that rooted him out. The prudence of his colleagues is to be commended and I am grateful to the IOPC for conducting an investigation that left no stone unturned."
The force, which has nearly 7,000 officers, said it is better without Banks as part of the team.
DCS Allen continued: "No decent member of the police service wants to work with the likes of Banks and there will never be a place in GMP for anybody who behaves like him. He abused his position of trust and for that the Office of Constable has been rightly stripped from him.
"GMP is a better force without Banks and we will recruit a new officer into his post who will discharge their duties with honour and espouse the professional and compassionate values of the GMP workforce."
