Outed Police Officer Should Have Received Apology

A gay police officer who was outed at work by his sergeant should have received an apology, Cleveland Police admitted yesterday.

The constable, who cannot be named except for legal reasons has been off work with stress since April last year.

He claimed in an employment tribunal that he was treated less favourably because of his sexuality, and felt “totally victimised, humiliated and isolated.”

According to The Northern Echo, Cleveland deputy Ron Hogg said that the lack of apology was “an oversight”, but that the two police sergeants had been reprimanded after the incident.

He said: “There were two breaches, but there was no supporting evidence of any other breaches. We took the view that, in this case, the motive was not malicious.

“We took the unusual step of consulting the claimant during the investigation… He agreed to the two officers receiving superintendents’ warnings, which is very serious.”

Mr Hogg said that one of the sergeants was remorseful and apologised to the PC at his own home.

He also denied that the claimant had been isolated, and said that he was supported throughout the investigation by the Police Federation.

The constable was outed to his colleagues by one of the sergeants in February 2005. The other sergeant had distributed an email on bullying, which it is alleged was flippant and inappropriate.