Northern Ireland's Police Ombudsman, Jacqui Durkin, has condemned the "utterly despicable" conduct of two PSNI officers towards vulnerable people they were supposed to help.

Both officers have been dismissed. Police Officer B lost his job following an ombudsman investigation, while Police Officer A was dismissed after a related internal PSNI investigation.

Officer A filmed and photographed people who had sought police help, reported crimes, were intoxicated or were considered at risk of self-harm. The material was recorded in homes, hospitals and police vehicles. Some of it was shared on WhatsApp, including with a member of the public, often alongside sexualised, derogatory or demeaning comments.

Messages, photographs and videos on Officer A's personal phones referred to 18 identifiable people and covered the period from 2016 to 2021. Officer B photographed two vulnerable women and sent the images to Officer A with derogatory messages. He also appeared in a video Officer A recorded in the bedroom of a woman with complex needs, during which highly inappropriate sexual comments were made.

"Almost all of the people affected by these actions were vulnerable, some extremely so," said Ms Durkin. "They should have been treated with compassion and empathy. Instead, they were treated with nothing short of contempt.

"These now former officers showed no respect for people's privacy or dignity at their time of need and seriously undermined their trust and confidence in policing. One also shared a series of messages with a member of the public, showing scant regard for the confidentiality of police enquiries.

"They were unworthy of the role of police officer and it is only right that they have been dismissed from the PSNI."

The conduct emerged during an investigation into an allegation that Officer A had abused his position for a sexual purpose by starting a relationship with a woman he met through his work. Another officer reported the allegation to the PSNI anti-corruption hotline, and the Chief Constable referred it to the ombudsman in December 2021.

Ombudsman investigators arrested Officer A, searched his home and workplace and seized electronic devices. No action followed the initial investigation into the alleged relationship, but material found on his phones led to three further inquiries.

The ombudsman investigated inappropriate content involving vulnerable members of the public. The PSNI's Professional Standards department separately investigated after receiving evidence that officers had shared racial, sexist and misogynistic memes.

A further ombudsman inquiry found that 74 officers, including Officer A, had accessed police body-worn video footage without a legitimate reason. The PSNI took management action against all 74.

Officer A was dismissed for gross misconduct after the internal PSNI inquiry. Before that dismissal, the ombudsman had sent files to the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPS) concerning images, videos and messages about members of the public found on his phones. These addressed potential misconduct in public office by Officer A and potential data protection offences by both officers.

The PPS directed that neither officer should be prosecuted. It noted that Communications Act offences would have been relevant, but were already statute barred by the time the ombudsman discovered the material and could begin an investigation.

Because Officer A had already been dismissed, no further disciplinary action could be taken against him over his treatment of vulnerable people. Misconduct files were submitted to the PSNI concerning Officer B and two other officers.

Officer B was dismissed for gross misconduct in July 2026. Officer C received a final written warning after receiving an inappropriate video of a vulnerable person from Officer A and later sending it back. Officer C accepted that the video should have been reported and called the episode "a stupid mistake."

No further action was taken against Officer D, who had been present when Officer A recorded a video but said they had not known a recording was being made.

One video was recorded in June 2021 after Officers A and B were sent to the home of a woman with learning difficulties and mental health needs following a concern for her safety.

It showed the woman in bed in her nightwear, with Officer B standing at the foot of the bed. Officer A asked a highly inappropriate question using a slang term, apparently about her sex life. Officer B then shouted a comment and asked her to repeat it.

The woman held up her tablet and told the officers she was recording them. Officer A said they were having "craic" and told her to "lighten up." When investigators showed her the video, she said she had not known she was being filmed and felt "disgusted" by what had happened.

"Such behaviour from police officers tasked to assist a vulnerable woman at a time of distress is reprehensible," said Ms Durkin. "Recording a video while making sexualised comments to a vulnerable woman who was in bed in her nightwear was hugely inappropriate, a gross intrusion of her privacy and an affront to her dignity.

"They demeaned her for their own amusement. It would be hard to imagine behaviour further removed from the care and compassion required by police officers in such a situation."

The two officers had also exchanged photographs and messages in November 2020. Officer B was at the home of one of two women who had reported an assault and theft by someone they knew. While speaking to the women, both known to have vulnerabilities, he photographed them and sent the images to Officer A with messages, some sexual in nature and containing derogatory terms.

After being told about the messages, one woman said the experience reinforced her belief that police were "out to get" her. The other did not engage with ombudsman investigators. Officer B told investigators he was a junior officer and that Officer A was his Probationary Support Officer. He said he was "trying to fit in" and would not have behaved as he did had he not met Officer A.

Other Material On Officer A's Phones

The phones also contained photographs, videos and messages relating to another 15 people Officer A had encountered while on duty. Five had been photographed or filmed in hospital, despite signs discouraging such activity in clinical settings.

One was a woman the officer had repeatedly encountered in connection with self-harm and concerns she might take her own life. In June 2019, while escorting her to hospital, he sent a photograph and details of her medical condition to a member of the public. He disclosed her personal medical information to that person on four other occasions, and several messages used foul and derogatory terms about her.

Officer A told investigators the woman was "extremely troubled", that she had known the member of the public since school and that he sometimes arranged for them to speak by phone to help her comply with his attempts to assist her. He later said she had consented to the disclosure of her medical information. Investigators concluded that, given the severity of her vulnerabilities, any such consent could not be relied upon. The woman has since taken her own life.

Officer A also secretly recorded two videos of a woman he had been sent to locate after she left hospital while receiving treatment following an overdose. She was attached to a drip at the time. The videos were filmed from a low angle, with the camera moved as people walked past. The woman said she had been at the lowest point of her life and was angry when she learnt of the recordings.

Another unidentified woman was photographed in a hospital bed with an officer sitting beside her. A man was photographed speaking to an officer in a hospital waiting area in 2018, while another man, considered at risk of self-harm, was pictured lying across waiting-room chairs.

The latter man said he felt he had been made "a laughing stock" after learning that Officer A had sent the image to a member of the public with a derogatory message about his health conditions.

Other material included a video of a woman recorded when she was abusing alcohol and drugs. She said learning of it caused her great distress. Five videos showed an elderly, apparently vulnerable man at home and in a street, filmed from a police car. They showed his poor living conditions and included highly inappropriate and mocking comments from the officer about his sex life.

In another apparently covert recording, Officer A encouraged a woman in a police car to make different comments while apparently laughing at her. Two other videos showed women involved in a neighbour dispute, one of whom was intoxicated. Neither knew she had been recorded. One said the discovery made her nervous of police and wary of seeking their help; the other said it had affected her trust in police.

In July 2016, Officer A disclosed confidential police information to a member of the public about a suspect in a fatal road traffic collision. He also used a personal phone twice to record information inappropriately from the police body-worn video system.

Photographs of two further men were sent in messages: one appeared to be sleeping in the back of a police car and was accompanied by mocking commentary; the other was lying across chairs and was described using a derogatory term.

"None of the explanations provided by the officer for having recorded these images and videos, for sharing personal information about vulnerable people or confidential details about police enquiries, or for using highly derogatory terms when referring to members of the public, provided any justification for his actions," said Ms Durkin.

"He suggested some of the videos had been recorded for his own protection as he feared an allegation might be made against him but did not provide a valid reason as to why he had not used his police issue body worn video camera instead.

"He also suggested that on occasion he was venting his frustrations with his job or had been motivated by fear of being targeted by dissident paramilitaries.

"While I fully appreciate that policing can often be a stressful and demanding role, none of these explanations were sustainable and can ever justify behaviour which was demeaning, disrespectful and wholly inappropriate.

"Trust and confidence in policing is as important if not more so to vulnerable people who deserve a professional response from and treatment by every police officer they encounter.

"This investigation further illustrates the need for legislative reform to enable me to refer investigation outcomes to the Chief Constable, where there is clear and indisputable evidence that misconduct proceedings are required, while a prosecution file is being finalised or considered by the PPS.

"It also substantiates the need for powers relating to completing investigation outcomes relating to retired officers. If these were in place they would not only produce swifter outcomes they could act as an effective deterrent to any officer who engages in this type of egregious behaviour."

Ms Durkin thanked the officer whose report to the anti-corruption hotline ultimately exposed the misconduct.

"It is a clear example of how doing the right thing can be so important," she said. "If it had not been for the integrity and bravery of that officer, these issues may never have come to light and the officers involved may not have been held to account for their actions."

She added that, had Officer A not already been dismissed, she would have recommended formal disciplinary proceedings over his treatment of vulnerable people.

Anyone affected by the statement can seek free, confidential support from Victim Support NI, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Its Belfast office can be reached on 02890 243133 or belfast@victimsupportni.org.uk, and its Foyle office on 02871 370086 or foyle@victimsupportni.org.uk.