Misconduct within the ranks of British policing has once again come under the spotlight, as a string of high-profile disciplinary cases expose troubling lapses in judgment and oversight. From officers sharing sensitive images of detainees to allegations of dishonesty and mishandled fatal crash investigations, the public’s confidence in police integrity is being put to the test.
In Northamptonshire, the case of Neil Irvine, a former police officer, has drawn sharp criticism. According to BBC, Irvine shared a photograph of a hospital patient’s facial injuries—an individual detained by Northamptonshire Police and in a vulnerable state—via WhatsApp to a group chat on his personal phone in December 2024. The image was accompanied by what a disciplinary panel described as “derogatory and inappropriate wording... glorifying the impact of the use of force.” The patient, slipping in and out of consciousness, was depicted in a state that should have demanded privacy and dignity, not ridicule.
The panel found Irvine’s actions amounted to gross misconduct, concluding, “no other outcome than dismissal would be adequate to uphold public confidence in policing and maintain the high standards that I expect of officers of Northamptonshire Police,” as Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet stated. Notably, Irvine had already been subject to a final written warning at the time—a detail that underscores the severity of his disregard for protocol. He resigned just a day before the misconduct hearing on September 19, 2025, but was barred from policing in the future.
While the specifics of this case are shocking, they are not isolated. The issue of police officers resigning before disciplinary hearings has become a recurring theme, raising questions about accountability and the effectiveness of internal disciplinary procedures. For many observers, Irvine’s resignation before facing the panel feels like an evasion of full responsibility.
Meanwhile, in the West Midlands, another former officer is under scrutiny for a very different kind of alleged misconduct. Officer Callum Finnegan, once with West Midlands Police, stands accused of dishonestly calling in sick for duty—only to spend that day refereeing and acting as assistant referee at two football matches. According to CoventryLive and Daily Mail, Finnegan is alleged to have further requested that public records of his refereeing activities on the day in question be deleted, an act that would amount to a deliberate cover-up.
The misconduct hearing, scheduled for September 25, 2025, at the force’s Birmingham headquarters and chaired by Assistant Chief Constable Jen Mattinson, will determine whether Finnegan breached standards of honesty, integrity, and discreditable conduct. The force has labeled the matter as potential gross misconduct—"so serious as to justify dismissal.” Finnegan, who joined the police in June 2020 and has been a level five football referee in the West Midlands for 14 years, admitted missing work to referee when first questioned. Despite his resignation prior to the hearing, the proceedings are moving forward.
The case has not only affected Finnegan’s professional standing but has also taken a personal toll. Relatives expressed anger at the two-year duration of the investigation, arguing that such a delay over what they see as a minor disciplinary matter would be unusual in most workplaces. “The internal probe had taken a devastating toll on the former officer’s life and questioned whether it was a sensible use of public money to continue misconduct proceedings when Mr Finnegan had already resigned,” Daily Mail reported. Supporters, including the body representing grassroots referees, have submitted dozens of statements backing Finnegan.
Yet, the scrutiny over Finnegan’s case comes at a time when police forces across the country are under fire for not taking robust enough action against officers accused of far more serious misconduct. As Daily Mail notes, many cases involving allegations of predatory or dangerous behavior fail to reach the misconduct hearing stage at all, with some officers receiving only written warnings for offenses as grave as abusing police powers for sexual gain or sending indecent images to colleagues.
Elsewhere, the gravity of police failings is even more pronounced. In October 2021, Jacob Crawshaw, a 19-year-old from St Neots, Cambridgeshire, died in a work van crash on the A14 in Northamptonshire. The driver, Christopher Hicks, was not drug tested until the day after the crash—far too late to determine if he was under the influence at the time, as reported by BBC. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found that former Detective Constable Ady Tredwell had a case to answer for gross misconduct over his handling of the fatal crash investigation. Despite his medical retirement, Tredwell was served proceedings.
The IOPC review, requested by the Crawshaw family, also directed Northamptonshire Police to investigate the actions of Tredwell’s superiors, who had failed to provide adequate oversight. The watchdog’s report highlighted that, with better management, “issues might have been identified earlier, potentially preventing some of the subsequent mistakes in the collision investigation.”
Jacob’s mother, Tracey Crawshaw, expressed the family’s anguish: “We are living every parent's worst nightmare. We now know that he, and we as a family, were badly let down by Northamptonshire Police. We feel totally vindicated by the IOPC report. Jacob deserves justice, and we expect accountability.”
Radd Seiger, an adviser to the Crawshaw family, praised their determination and called out the systemic failings: “It is shocking to see the failings in Jacob's case and how poorly the case was investigated, leading to a serious miscarriage of justice. When Jacob's family complained, the failures were minimised and swept under the carpet.”
Discussions are now underway for a review by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) into Northamptonshire Police’s road traffic investigation processes, to determine whether lessons have been learned not just from the Crawshaw case, but also from the similarly mishandled investigation into the 2019 death of Harry Dunn.
Collectively, these cases paint a picture of a policing culture grappling with issues of accountability, transparency, and public trust. While some argue that lengthy investigations into minor infractions waste resources, others point to the need for consistent standards and meaningful consequences—especially when the stakes are as high as public safety and justice for grieving families.
As police forces across the UK face mounting pressure to reform, these stories serve as both a warning and a call to action: the public’s faith in law enforcement depends not just on the swift punishment of wrongdoing, but on a culture that values honesty, transparency, and above all, accountability.
