SC George Trudgill Accessed Secret Police Files On Vulnerable CHILD He Personally Knew

George Trudgill deliberately searched sensitive police records while on duty with Norfolk Constabulary – and would have been sacked had he not already resigned

A SPECIAL constable accessed highly sensitive police files about a vulnerable child he personally knew despite having no policing reason whatsoever to look at them.

George Trudgill deliberately accessed the confidential record while on duty with Norfolk Constabulary on May 26, 2022.

The file concerned a vulnerable juvenile who had been reported missing after leaving a location and indicating an intention to self-harm.

But Trudgill had not attended the original incident and had no legitimate policing purpose for accessing the information.

An accelerated misconduct hearing heard that Trudgill personally knew the youngster through his work.

At 3.39pm that day, he entered the relevant CAD number into the force’s Webstorm system and viewed the record, which contained personal and sensitive personal data.

His duty that day was patrol in Norfolk’s D2 area, while the location connected with the child was in Suffolk.

Assistant Chief Officer Nicholas Davison, who chaired the hearing, found Trudgill’s actions were “intentional, deliberate and targeted”.

There had been no accidental access.

The Chair also found his actions breached data protection requirements and amounted to misuse of a police computer system.

Trudgill’s conduct was found to have breached two Standards of Professional Behaviour – Confidentiality and Discreditable Conduct.

Both were proven.

The Chair found the breaches amounted to gross misconduct, assessing both Trudgill’s culpability and the resulting harm as high.

The child’s vulnerability was also identified as an aggravating factor.

Trudgill had resigned from the Special Constabulary before the hearing and did not attend the proceedings.

But the Chair made clear what would have happened had he remained an officer.

The judgment states: “Had former Special Constable George Trudgill been a serving special constable he would have been dismissed.”

The Chair concluded that nothing less than dismissal without notice would have been appropriate given the seriousness of the misconduct.

Norfolk Constabulary was also directed to apply for the former special constable to be placed on the Police Barred List.