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Police officer fined after probe into sex acts in public toilets
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A police officer has been fined 13 days' pay following an investigation into alleged sexual activity in public toilets.
Police began the investigation after members of the public contacted Wirral Council about the claims relating to the toilets on Harrison Drive, New Brighton, the Wirral, earlier this year.
A total of 32 people were issued with cautions and six people charged with offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Two of those charged have entered guilty pleas and a further four are awaiting trial.
But the investigation has drawn criticism from the gay community who say "policy and procedure" was not followed.
A spokeswoman for Merseyside Police said: "One of the people cautioned is a serving Merseyside Police officer and he has also been fined 13 days' pay through the force's disciplinary procedures."
The officer has not been named.
While interviewing those arrested, officers asked suspects to identify those people they were engaged in the offence with. This is standard practice in all investigations, the spokeswoman for the force said.
But Mike Homfray, chairman of the Gay and Lesbian Police Liaison Group, an independent group funded by Merseyside Police, said: "There is a lot of unhappiness and I feel it did a lot of harm. Usually there are warnings put up by police for operations. This was not done. We have been following this quite closely. Policy and procedure was seemingly ignored. There is now an internal investigation into the operation."
Assistant Chief Constable Simon Byrne, of Merseyside Police, said: "Our officers took advice from support groups before arresting suspects to ensure this was handled sensitively and further emotional support was available to them, should it be required.
"Whilst the professionalism of our investigation is not under question, the operation did raise concerns with some members of the community.
"I am addressing these concerns head on and have set up a multi-agency working group to learn from this operation and establish best practice procedures on dealing with similar issues in the future.
"Merseyside Police is fully committed to ensuring it operates in a way which reflects the diversity of the communities we serve."
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