An inspector who was found guilty of egregious misconduct and who sold his police pants on Vinted for £4 was demoted.
Owen Hurley, of Hertfordshire Police, admitted to selling a single item of uniform on the second-hand selling app last year.
After remodelling, he needed to “make space” in his wardrobe, so he decided to market the trousers. He told a disciplinary hearing.
The trousers were reported to the police by a member of the public who saw them on the platform during the summer of 2023.
Sergeant Hurley acknowledged making a “mistake” at the hearing on Tuesday, February 6, adding that he “just did it instinctively at the time.”
While the listing on Vinted stated the trousers were a police issue, the sergeant confirmed they did not include a police emblem or symbol.
Sergeant Hurley said that the old trousers did not fit well, but Chief Constable Charlie Hall discovered that in January 2023, Sergeant Hurley had placed an order for two new pairs of trousers in the same size.
Counsel on behalf of the officer said ‘Not every mistake is unethical’, arguing that Sergeant Hurley had not tried to conceal his behaviour by selling in his own name, which suggested it was not a deliberate wrongdoing.
Having served for fifteen years, he was well-liked and respected by his coworkers.
Representatives of the authority that brought the case forward said Sergeant Hurley had not shown integrity, which is a ‘fundamental’ policing concept.
Although they said the facts of the case suggest it was ‘not close to premeditation or planning’, they said it still amounted to ‘more than just a simple mistake’.
Chief Constable Hall said Sergeant Hurley’s actions were ‘stupid’ and that taking no action would be a ‘slippery slope’.
He said a reduction in rank to sergeant recognises that the former inspector’s line management role is an aggravating factor in the case.
The penalty seemed a little excessive. But I can’t see how someone in his position didn’t realise that you can’t sell or give away your uniform when you work for the police. He should have understood this.
Formal warnings, or even a stern word from his superior officer, may have dissuaded him enough to prevent a repeat performance.
This is absurd. First of all, this would have required a costly investigation, diverting the police’s attention from other pressing inquiries, and all for a £4 Vinted item.
Professional standards make me laugh, particularly when a lot of them are poachers turned gamekeepers. Going into work every day to investigate their colleagues—is this the real reason why people joined up?
Police shouldn’t, in my opinion, be investigating other police. In particular, to avoid any retaliatory action performed just because the force doesn’t like that person and wants to ‘manage’ them out of the position, it should always be an independent panel.
Stop the press! A vicious crime has been committed; a copper sold his police trousers on Vinted; send him to the gallows! The police and the justice system have lost the plot.
Talk about a fuss over nothing. Was he that skint that he needed to sell them for four quid?
It seems this police uniform was more important than doing the job, yet nobody gets demoted for not doing their job properly.
To be honest, the trousers were not his to sell, and any unneeded uniform had to be handed back to the store’s department for reuse, et cetera.
I had assumed that becoming a police officer would have required common sense, but obviously not! Still, his punishment was a bit harsh, even for a numpty police inspector who sells his wears on Vinted!
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