Detective admits accessing family's police records

A detective has admitted accessing police records several times about himself and members of his family over a 10-year period.

Det Con Thomas Lauder, 42, told the first day of a two-day misconduct hearing he accepted he "got things wrong" but "not in a malicious or deceitful way".

The Telford detective denied committing gross misconduct, in front of the panel of three in Worcester on Wednesday.

Fiona Wise, the barrister for West Mercia Police, told the hearing that not being aware of the force's policy was "not a defence".

She said Det Con Lauder conceded he had made six breaches and two more in terms of standards of professional behaviour - he faces 19 counts in total.

The detective admitted he accessed police records on several occasions between 2012 and 2022 including after he received confidentiality training.

"I hold my hands up that I, like a lot of other officers, had not read the policies page by page," he told the hearing.

The access breaches included him receiving doorbell video footage by email from his father when it should have gone to officers investigating a burglary.

On another occasion he found information about himself after he had been the victim of an attack that left him with tendon injuries and restricted to office tasks.

Det Con Lauder told the hearing that, in July 2017, he had come across the name of the person who had attacked him.

He said he used the information to warn officers to be aware that they were attending the home of a violent offender.

On another occasion he was allocated a crime that involved his own father. He said: "In hindsight I should have refused but I attended, logged and dealt with it."

Police officers are not allowed to access details of themselves or family members and if they do, they should notify their superior, the hearing was told.

Ms Wise said curiosity was "not a valid reason" and urged the panel to rule the officer had committed gross misconduct.

But Francesca Perera, barrister for Det Con Lauder, said he had served for 17 years and his record was "unblemished" until these issues arose.

She said the force had not proved its case and urged the panel to rule that he should be found to have carried out misconduct but not gross misconduct.

The hearing continues.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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