Cop filmed young women in Sheffield, shared video on social media using "offensive, sexualised language"
The misconduct panel also found the former South Yorkshire Police officer, over an 11-year period, posted comments on social media “that were inappropriate and offensive, and on one occasion racist”
A South Yorkshire Police officer involved with training new recruits “deliberately and knowingly engaged in multiple acts of serious misconduct,” including filming two young women in a Sheffield restaurant without their permission, and becoming verbally abusive when challenged.
Those are the findings of a misconduct panel tasked with looking into allegations made against police officers, during a hearing held on Monday (May 11, 2026).
The officer, whose identity has been withheld by the force without explanation, was a serving officer at the time of his alleged conduct - spanning an 11-year period - but retired in 2024 after 21 years with the force. “Former PC A,” as he is referred to in police documents, was working as a trainer at the time of his retirement.
The panel’s findings, including the determinations of the panel’s chair - South Yorkshire Police (SYP) chief constable Lauren Poultney, have been published and conclude former PC A, who did not attend the hearing, “deliberately and knowingly engaged in multiple acts of serious misconduct.”
Chf Con Poultney, SYP’s first female chief constable, states: “My findings are that these allegations are proven, on the balance of probabilities, and that the breaches of Discreditable Conduct, Authority, Respect and Courtesy, Equality and Diversity and Honesty and Integrity.”
The panel found former PC A would have been dismissed from the force without notice, had he not already retired.
The hearing documents reveal that former PC A’s alleged conduct was brought to light in July 2025, when SYP’s professional standards team were presented with information to suggest he had committed misconduct related offences by posting inappropriate, derogatory, offensive material on his social media X account.
In addition to “inappropriate, derogatory, offensive” posts to X over 11 years, former PC A was also found to have shared a video of two women filmed in a Sheffield restaurant without their consent.
The documents state: “It was alleged that former PC A had videoed two young women in a restaurant in Sheffield, one of the women asked him politely to stop filming them and he refused.
“The two women then gather their belongings and leave and as one of the women passes by she makes a comment.”
The former PC A reportedly responded by referring to the woman using an offensive term.
The documents continue: “He had uploaded the video to ‘X’ and refers to the two women as ‘c**ts’.
“He tags a colleague.”
Chf Con Poultney said of the former officer’s behaviour: “The public rightly expect officers to show respect for women and girls, and they certainly do not expect officers to record and publish footage of young women in a social setting and to comment on their conduct and use offensive, sexualised language.
“This conduct has the potential to cause very serious harm to public confidence in the police.”
She said the allegations made against former PC A come at a time when “there is real public concern around misogyny in policing, this concern is both at scale and at depth.”
Detailing her determinations on the other social media allegations, Chf Con Poultney continues: “Over a period of 11 years the former officer posted comments on the social media platform Twitter, latterly X, that were inappropriate and offensive, and on one occasion racist.
Dealing with former PC A’s mitigating factors, the hearing documents state that he has previously asserted that many of the posts are historic, dating back between eight and twelve years.
In addition, former PC A has claimed that no complaints were made at the time they were posted, and he did not identify himself as a police officer in those posts.
He has also suggested there is no evidence that they were connected in the public mind with policing as an institution.
Responding to former PC A’s mitigation, the determination from Chf Con Poultney acknowledges that when considering the private online behaviour of an officer “care must be taken to consider their right to privacy and to free speech.”
She concludes, however: “Whilst in none of the posts subject to the specific allegations does the former officer identify himself as such, it is the case that the former officer regularly posted comments that would make it clear to anyone viewing his account that he was very likely a police officer, and indeed one charged with the training of new recruits.”
Detailing the panel’s finding that former PC A would have been dismissed without notice, Chf Con Poultney’s determination states: “Having assessed the misconduct here as serious misconduct, recognising that the former officer demonstrated a serious failure in adherence to the standards of professional behaviour, and his misconduct has the potential to cause serious damage to the public confidence in the police, in my judgment the only appropriate outcome would be dismissal without notice if the officer were still serving.
“No lesser alternative adequately protects public confidence in the police service, upholds standards in policing and protects the public.”