South Yorkshire PC and former Blades player tests positive for cocaine

A South Yorkshire police officer who joined the service after two decades as a professional footballer could be dismissed after testing positive for cocaine on duty.

PC Julian Broddle, whose career highlights include being part of the Raith Rovers side that beat Celtic in the 1994 Scottish League Cup Final, faces a misconduct hearing with his employer South Yorkshire Police next week.

According to the South Yorkshire force, Mr Broddle provided a urine sample as part of a random drug test after attending its professional standards department on March 19.

A description of the incident on the force’s website: “The sample was sent for analysis and Alere Toxicology have informed South Yorkshire Police that PC Broddle tested positively for a Class A drug, namely cocaine.”

The officer is due to attend a special case misconduct hearing where he will answer claims that his conduct was ‘unprofessional and inappropriate and breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour, in particular those paragraphs relating to Discreditable Conduct’.

His case will be heard on the same afternoon as a case relating to Special Police Constable Oliver Paduch, who is accused of posting ‘inappropriate and unacceptable comments of a potentially racist nature on Facebook’.

Most police misconduct hearings have been held in public since last year as part of efforts by the Government to make forces more transparent and accountable.

Both cases next Thursday are special hearings, where the circumstances of the misconduct have already been considered by the force’s deputy chief constable.

Mr Broddle started his football career with Sheffield United in 1981-82, but played only once for the first team.

He moved to Scunthorpe United in 1983 and became one of the club’s top 25 scorers of all time over a four-year period. He also had a three-year spell with St Mirren before moving north to Scotland.