Police officer shared video of him Tasering suspect with mocking message
A former Lincolnshire Police officer sent footage of himself Tasering a suspect to a friend, bragging the man had “gone down like a sack of potatoes”.
Former PC Taylor Packer also sent “disgusting and offensive” racist messages and kept confidential police information on his mobile phone.
A misconduct hearing ruled that he would have been dismissed from the force for gross misconduct if he had not already resigned last year.
Former PC Packer, who was based at Skegness Police Station, didn’t attend the misconduct hearing or offer any reasons for his actions.
The hearing at the Nettleham police headquarters on Friday (July 25) was told that Packer had called a member of the public the n-word on Snapchat, and had a conversation with another person where they both used racist terms. The inappropriate language was described as “disgusting and offensive”.
In October 2023, he used a Taser on a suspect of domestic assault who had become aggressive.
He then accessed the footage from his bodyworn camera and sent it to a friend with the mocking message.
The same month, he also sent details about three people who had been arrested to a friend, including their first names and an address and vehicle linked to them.
The hearing was also told that he had a number of confidential details of police operations on his personal phone, including the name, photo and address of a suspect.
These hadn’t been disclosed, but the panel heard that it posed a security risk.
Liz Briggs, counsel for Lincolnshire Police, said “the public would be appalled” to find out about the former officer’s conduct.
His actions were deemed to be gross misconduct, breaking the standards for authority, respect and courtesy, orders and instructions, confidentiality, equality and diversity, and discreditable conduct.
Chief Constable Paul Gibson said the breaches were “blatant, intentional and premeditated”, and “fall far short of the expectations of a police officer.”
The officer resigned in March 2024 after around three years on the force.
The outcome of the hearing was that former PC Packer would have been dismissed without notice had he not already resigned and so he was added to the barred list.