'Curious' police officer accessed private data

A “CURIOUS” police officer secretly rifled through confidential systems, a disciplinary hearing has been told.

- BY ANNABAL BAGDI

“Experienced” former Detective Constable Keeling made a number of checks which she should “never have undertaken”.

She showed a “blatant disregard” for rules she should have been following and had “no right” to access the data stored by West Midlands Police.

Keeling “knew perfectly well what she was doing” but made “many repeated conscious choices to act in the way she did”.

The ex-officer was found to have breached policing standards of professional behaviour, with a panel finding that her actions amounted to gross misconduct.

She would have been dismissed had she still been working for the force, an accelerated misconduct hearing found.

A report from Chief Constable Craig Guildford read: “She unreservedly accepts that her conduct amounts to gross misconduct and the facts of this case are not in dispute.”