Former PC added to barred list

A finding of gross misconduct has been proven against David Hawkins, 43, a PC who would have been dismissed from Avon and Somerset Police had he not already resigned.

He will now be added to the barred list.

The hearing was held in public at Police and Fire Headquarters in Portishead on Thursday 22 January.

An allegation of operational dishonesty was proven against Hawkins and he was found to be in breach of the standards of:

• honesty and integrity
• authority, respect and courtesy
• duties and responsibilities
• discreditable conduct.

The hearing heard that, as a PC, Hawkins had attended a domestic incident in 2018, and had failed to record an allegation of assault after a woman told him she had been struck by her partner.

Instead, he recorded it as a “verbal argument” with “no offences disclosed” and gave a risk assessment of “standard”.

Hawkins also failed to upload body-worn camera footage of his attendance, which may have contained the disclosure of a criminal offence. He then did not use his camera for six months.

After Hawkins’ failure to record the assault allegation, there was a further verbal domestic incident involving the same individuals.

After this, Hawkins exchanged WhatsApp messages with another officer in which he said: “I’m in serious trouble here” and “It’s my fault and I’ll have to live with the consequences”.

Despite Hawkins’ inaction, the assault was fully investigated, as disclosures were made to other agencies and passed to police the next day.

In response to the allegation, Hawkins said he accepted that he did not document the assault disclosed to him correctly, but could not remember why. He said he couldn’t remember making a deliberate decision not to upload his bodycam footage but said he was “really shoddy” with its use.

He also accepted that he could and should have made the assault allegation known after the further incident, if not sooner.

He said: “I do regret this incident and am far from proud as to how I dealt with it. I let myself down that day.”

Detective Superintendent Larisa Hunt, head of Professional Standards, said: “David Hawkins attended a reported incident of domestic abuse, and failed to record a crime when an assault was disclosed to him. He failed in his duty to protect a vulnerable woman and, to make matters worse, tried to hide it.

“Avon and Somerset Police are committed to bringing the perpetrators of domestic abuse to justice and keeping victims and survivors safe. We are working with academics, partners and survivors to identify how we can improve our investigations and outcomes and better deter and disrupt perpetrators.

“I know that David Hawkins’ misconduct may undermine our efforts to build confidence in victims and survivors to come forward and report. Please be assured that behaviour like his has no place in policing and we’re determined to root it out. Our goal is for people to have the confidence to come to us when they need our help.”

The full outcome of this hearing will be added to the misconduct section of our website when it is available.