A constable resigned from Nottinghamshire Police on Friday (26 April), just days before he was to face a misconduct hearing. But the disciplinary hearing went ahead on Monday (29 April) despite his resignation. It ruled that former PC Fraser Beresford did make drunken threats to a female bartender.
PC Beresford was a new constable. He had only joined Nottinghamshire Police training school seven months before the incident and was still undergoing tutorship.
He was accused of threatening a bartender who refused to serve him. The incident happened in the early hours of Thursday 27 April last year. Beresford was off duty and on a night out with colleagues. Just after 2.00 am he ordered a drink. The bartender refused to serve him “due to his level of intoxication”, Nottinghamshire Police said in a statement.
“PC Beresford refused to accept this, and it was found that he used demeaning and threatening language towards her. It was found he used words to the effect of ‘I’m a police officer, you are going to regret that and you ought to watch yourself.’”
He was ejected from the premises by bar security. Two other officers in the group apologised to the bar staff and gave them Beresford’s details. They advised the bar steward to report the incident to police.
Nottinghamshire Police said that its professional standards directorate carried out a “thorough investigation” into the incident ahead of a hearing for gross misconduct that was held at the Nottinghamshire Police headquarters in Sherwood Lodge.
In a statement to the hearing, Beresford described the incident as “a mistake that he will have to live with the rest of his life.” He also expressed his “genuinely and unreservedly” apologies for upsetting the bartender, and admitted that “he had let a lot of people down”.
The chair of the hearing found Beresford guilty of misconduct for breaching the authority, respect, and courtesy and discreditable conduct areas of the police’s standards of professional behaviour.
“The actions of PC Beresford on that night were completely unacceptable”, deputy chief constable Steve Cooper said. “His conduct damages the reputation of Nottinghamshire Police and public confidence in policing as a whole.
“The public deserve the highest possible standards from our officers whether they are on or off duty and this officer has let himself and his colleagues down. I would like to personally thank both off-duty officers for apologising for his actions on the night and also advising the member of bar staff to report this matter to us. “More than ever it is vitally important that the public have complete trust and confidence in policing and therefore anyone who fails to meet the extremely high standards expected of them will be dealt with robustly.”
