Detective who falsified crime and CPS reports escaped with just a caution

A POLICE officer who admitted making false entries on crime reports and fabricating a Crown Prosecution Service document escaped with just a caution.

However, detective constable Ricardo Jacobs was dismissed without notice following the conclusion of a special misconduct case hearing on Wednesday, November 11.

DC Jacobs, attached to the West Area BCU, was found to have breached the standards of professional behaviour in respect of discreditable conduct and honesty and integrity.

It was alleged that in November 2017, DC Jacobs lied to a senior manager about advice from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) relating to a crime report and forged a CPS document.

The hearing head that on February 6 2020 the officer accepted a simple caution for the offence of misconduct in a public office.

The officer could have faced a public criminal trial for the offences, but being cautioned meant this did not happen.

After considering all the evidence the chair, Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball, found the allegations proven as gross misconduct and DC Jacobs was dismissed without notice.

The Met publishes details of misconduct outcomes on its website for 28 days, usually with the officer's name, but in this case it was initially done anonymously.

When Essex News and Investigations asked the force why he was not named, a spokesman said he should have been, and that he had already been named in a separate press release.

The spokesman said: "We’re not sure why this has gone up as anonymous.

"It relates to a hearing that we publicised at the time. The officer was named.

"It appears this was a simple admin error on the part of the team that uploads outcomes to the website.

"I understand it’s being corrected as we speak and the named outcome should appear online soon."