AN Essex Police officer has been dismissed from the force after sexually assaulting a female member of police staff while he was on duty.
David Hiscock twice sexually touched his victim’s bottom and attempted to initiate sexually suggestive conversations with his victim, referred to as Ms Z to protect her identity, on multiple occasions via WhatsApp.
Hiscock, who already had an unexpired five-year written warning for similar proven gross misconduct, was dismissed without notice following the latest hearing on February 6.
The hearing heard the former police constable was unable to recognise that his attraction to Ms Z was not reciprocated and failed to consider the significant power imbalance in his status as a senior officer, given Hiscock had 20 years of service with Essex Police.
The hearing said his length of employment reflected “a power imbalance between them”.
It added Hiscock was an “experienced officer who should have recognised his behaviour was motivated by his own emotional and sexual needs, and that he was acting for his own gratification”.
Misconduct hearing chair BJ Harrington, chief constable of Essex Police, said that messages started “in a quite friendly and endearing way” but Hiscock shifted them toward a “personal and sexual tone”.
He said the exchanges between Hiscock and Ms Z were not appropriate and the standard of discreditable conduct was breached but were not themselves gross miscondu
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