Misconduct hearing outcome for former Constable Hankin

A misconduct hearing was held at Merseyside Police headquarters on Monday 3 February 2025, it was chaired by Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Alex Goss.  

The hearing was in relation to former Detective Constable Thomas Hankin and the following alleged breaches of the Standards of Professional Behaviour were considered by a panel.

Being an officer of the Merseyside Police on 17/11/2022 you breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour as set out in Schedule 2 to the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 in that:

Discreditable Conduct:  In that sending an explicit video via social media to an unnamed party whilst on duty on Police Premises, you have acted in a manner which brings the police service into disrepute and would discredit the service, undermining public confidence, should the public be aware.

Being an officer of the Merseyside Police on 20 September 2023 you breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour as set out in Schedule 2 to the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 in that:

Honesty and Integrity – In that you have accessed Police systems for a non-policing purpose and performed a check on a vehicle without legitimate cause. Police officers are supposed to act with integrity and do not abuse their position.

Orders and Instructions – In accessing sensitive information from force systems without legitimate policing purpose, you have failed to abide by force policies and regulations around the access of such information.  Police officers must abide by police regulations, force policies and lawful orders.

Confidentiality – Information has been accessed outside of the proper course of police duties and disclosed to a third party for a non-policing purpose. Police officers must treat information with respect and access or disclose it only in the proper course of police duties.      

The former was found to have breached the above standards by the chairperson and was given the sanction of immediate dismissal without notice, should he still have been serving.

The former officer has been added to the College of Policing barred list.