Former police officer who made ‘sexual video’ while on duty admits it was ‘ill judged’

Clare Ogden, 40, was working as a police constable for Cleveland Police and in uniform when she performed sex acts on herself for a video, while she was on her lunchbreak at Redcar station.

At a recent misconduct hearing, she claimed it was “ill judged and spur of the moment” and she feels “very embarrassed and ashamed”.

The video was found after her phone was seized by officers who were concerned she was taking photographs of confidential police records and evidence.

She was found to have taken 72 photographs and five videos and later admitted that she sent some of the images to others because “she found them funny and they appealed to her sense of humour”.

The force stated she had 34 images that fell into the red category, meaning they contained confidential information that could put people at risk of harm if it was leaked. One contained sensitive information about a convicted sex offender.

The misconduct panel found the allegations were proven and Ms Ogden would have been dismissed from the force without notice if she had not resigned at an earlier date.

Its ruling stated: “The police are in a privileged position and have access to personal and sensitive information that the public rightly expect to be protected and used appropriately.

“The public would rightly be concerned to learn of the use of data by the former officer for entertainment or other non-poling purposes.

“The public would also take a dim view of an officer making a sexual video whilst on police premises and would not expect responsible police officers to engage in this sort of behaviour.

“This matter concerns multiple breaches of the standards and clearly could have an impact on public confidence in policing.

"The most appropriate outcome is therefore a finding that the officer would have been dismissed had she still been a member of the police force.”

It added: “The panel take no personal pleasure in making findings of this type and do have empathy for any officer who finds themselves facing misconduct.”