Two Police Officers Sacked Over Filming Vulnerable Individuals On Duty
Two police constables have been dismissed from service for gross misconduct after they recorded vulnerable individuals during their shifts. The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Marie Anderson, condemned their actions as "utterly despicable" and found the officers breached police regulations.
Constable Mark Fisher and Constable Mark Macfarlane were found to have recorded members of the public without consent. Details from a Police Ombudsman investigation revealed Fisher filmed an injured woman in a hospital and later filmed a colleague interacting with a distressed man in a police vehicle. Macfarlane was found to have filmed a vulnerable man in a police station.
A PSNI disciplinary panel concluded that the officers’ actions amounted to gross misconduct. They were both dismissed from service, with their names added to a police barred list, preventing their future employment in policing. The Ombudsman emphasised the importance of maintaining public confidence and the professional standards expected of officers, especially when dealing with vulnerable individuals.
