Another Gwent Police officer resigns before gross misconduct allegations proven

A former Gwent Police officer has had allegations of gross misconduct proven by a panel – the second in 2024 so far.

Former police constable Avron Roulstone faced allegations of using “inappropriate language towards a colleague” at a public hearing on January 16 and 17.

This included calling a gay female colleague a “f***ing d**e” – while Roulstone was also accused of fist-bumping a member of the public who hurled homophobic abuse towards his colleague.

The hearing found that he would have been dismissed but had already resigned in October 2023.

The panel heard that when Roulstone was a serving officer he:

• Criticised a fellow officer in January 2021;
• Failed to treat a fellow officer with respect in 2021 at Cwmbran police station;
• Used “disrespectful and derogatory language to describe a fellow officer” between February 2021 and March 2021

Deputy Chief Constable Rachel Williams said: “It is wholly unacceptable that Avron Roulstone thought this was an appropriate way to speak about his colleagues; there is no place for this type of behaviour in our service.

“We expect our officers to speak to and treat each other with respect and courtesy, as they would speak to members of the public, and not use such hostile and offensive language.”

The former officer did not attend the hearing and will be placed on the list of barred officers preventing him from working for any police service in future.

“Predatory” behaviour by another police officer

On January 5 another former Gwent police officer – referred to by the force only as ‘former Police Officer A’ – was also found to have acted in a manner which amounted to gross misconduct.

Former Police Officer A resigned on or after December 28, 2023, after allegations, including “predatory” behaviour towards colleagues, were brought to light.

The officer faced three allegations by three separate witnesses, which all took place between July 2021 and May 2022.

The allegations were:

• Sending “inappropriate messages” to a colleague and communicating in a sexually inappropriate manner;
• Sending “inappropriate messages” to a second colleague which were of a “sexualised, flirtatious and suggestive manner”;
• Sending messages to a domestic abuse victim who was involved in a police investigation and then telling her to delete “anything from her phone that she didn’t want police to see” – thereby seeking to interfere with the investigation.

The officer’s conduct was found to amount to gross misconduct in each case and collectively.