A detective sergeant who admitted accessing and sharing sensitive police information and lying to his manager has been spared dismissal after a misconduct hearing found “exceptional circumstances” linked to the pressures of his role.
Detective Sergeant William Pearce, 43, was found guilty of two counts of gross misconduct following an accelerated misconduct hearing at Dorset Police headquarters in Winfrith on Tuesday, September 8.
However, Assistant Chief Constable Mark Callaghan, who chaired the hearing, ruled that his conduct did not warrant dismissal and instead imposed a reduction in rank.
DS Pearce was found to have committed gross misconduct by sharing confidential police information outside the proper course of his duties and by lying to his line manager about an absence from work.
A separate allegation relating to unauthorised absences was found to amount to misconduct, rather than gross misconduct.
The hearing was told DS Pearce, who became a detective sergeant in 2022, had responsibilities involving telecommunications, covert investigations and cybercrime teams.
He said he was regularly contacted outside working hours for advice on high-risk incidents, including missing-person cases, kidnappings, crimes in action and counter-terrorism matters.
DS William Pearce said: “The ability to switch off completely is not an option when informally being on call every day."
DS Pearce said the pressure had affected his home life and that he had struggled to separate work and personal time.
“I completely struggled to get the balance right,” he told the hearing.
“I didn't realise how much I had blurred what was work and home life.”
Guy Ladenburg, representing DS Pearce, said the role had to be considered in the context of its demands.
He told the hearing one previous holder of the post had sued Dorset Police while another had left the force because of the out-of-hours burden.
“Consider the previous incumbents – one sues the force and one leaves the force due to the out-of-hours issue,” he said.
The hearing was told DS Pearce had repeatedly gone beyond the requirements of his role but developed “sloppy” working practices for recording his hours as his work and family life became blurred.
He admitted being absent from his place of duty without authorisation on several occasions, including during school runs and while commuting, and accepted failing to accurately record his hours.
The panel found this amounted to misconduct rather than gross misconduct and was not motivated by financial gain.
DS Pearce also admitted accessing sensitive case records outside his duties to help his police-officer partner, before sharing information from his phone.
He said he wanted to assist her professionally in a case she was working on, but accepted it was inappropriate.
He also admitted telling his line manager he was attending a dentist appointment when he had instead gone for a walk by the sea because he needed time away from work.
Edward Barham, representing the appropriate authority, argued the conduct justified dismissal, particularly because one data breach involved highly sensitive information.
“The public will question where their data is, which means people will lose their trust and confidence in the force,” he said.
However, ACC Callaghan pointed to DS Pearce’s health, stress, character references and the systemic pressures of an effectively 24/7 on-call role.
“I am satisfied that exceptional circumstances do exist which refute dismissal,” he said.
DS Pearce described the process as “the worst experience of my life”.
Following the outcome, he said: “I've always been completely dedicated to serving the public and I'm extremely grateful that I've been given the opportunity to continue to do that.”
Dorset Police Federation conduct and performance lead Andrew Robertson said the outcome was “very fair”.
He said: “Bill [DS Pearce] will learn from his mistakes and the public will still benefit from the enormous expertise that he has.”
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