Exclusive: Detective in arrest shame ‘lacked support’

Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Knopwood was dismissed without notice for “gross misconduct” by West Yorkshire Police after a court banned him from driving for 12 months and fined him £1,000 at a hearing last month.

His dismissal means that he will miss out on between £1m and £2m in pension payments, according to the Police Superintendents’ Association, which represents more than 1,000 officers in senior management positions.

The case has prompted concerns over the pressures which senior officers are being placed under as forces across the country are faced with merging departments amid savage funding cuts due to the Government’s austerity drive.

Prior to his sacking, Knopwood had been head of protective services (crime), the division responsible for all major criminal investigations carried out by Yorkshire’s biggest police force.

Knopwood became the head of the department, formed when the force’s Crime Division and Homicide and Major Enquiry Team were merged, in November last year.

Victor Marshall of the staff association said Knopwood had a “hugely stressful” job and that the number of superintendent positions had dropped in recent years owing to shrinking resources, meaning more work was being put onto fewer officers.

Mr Marshall, who represented the detective in his misconduct hearing, said the public interest was not served by removing “an outstanding detective who has served the public with distinction for 24 years”.

He said: “As a staff association we think he should have had more support in this critical role. He is not saying categorically that had he had more support this would not have happened; we can’t say that either.

“If someone is supported more in such a high-profile job then the pressure may not have been as intense as it was. This is a man who gets up in the early hours of the morning and finishes late in the evening on many occasions. On this occasion he decided to unwind and made an error of judgement, thinking he was OK to drive and clearly was not.”

Harrogate Magistrates’ Court heard Knopwood was stopped by officers from North Yorkshire Police in Knaresborough, just after 11pm on April 28 after they noticed him driving “extremely slowly”. Knopwood of Park Lane, Knaresborough, told officers he had had two pints when asked if he had been drinking.

He was then asked to take a roadside breath test and was more then one-and-a-half-times the legal limit.

Magistrates heard the consequences for Knopwood, his wife and 12-year-old daughter would be “catastrophic” and have a profound financial effect on them. The arrest took place on the day Knopwood’s officers were investigating the murder of Leeds school teacher Ann Maguire. But Mr Marshall stressed Knopwood had no direct involvement in the inquiry itself, and did not want her relatives to think he “neglected his duties”.

Mr Marshall added: “He has conceded his conduct was not what should be expected but we argue that the public interest is simply not served by removing him. We do not in any circumstances condone drink driving, that is not what this is about. We are saying there is a debate to be had about whether we should lose, not a good policeman, or even a very good policeman, but an outstanding policeman.” Det Supt Osman Khan, of West Yorkshire Police’s Professional Standards department, claimed while the force does not comment on individual cases, concerns on workloads should be raised with “line managers to see what assistance can be put in place”.