Dozens of police officers and civilian staff have been dismissed from their roles for pretending to work remotely by using picture frames and cans to weigh down the keys
Scores of police officers have been accused of shirking from home. Dozens of police officers and civilian staff have been dismissed for pretending to work remotely by weighing down the keys on their keyboard at home.
At least 50 have been sacked in the past three years for the trick, using staplers, picture frames and fizzy drinks cans, so that they could play golf and go to the gym during the working day.
One former detective in Durham, Niall Thubron, reportedly pressed the “i” key more than 16,000 times on one day alone, an inquiry found. Bosses said his motivation was “laziness”.
He retired before he could be booted out by a misconduct panel.
An Avon and Somerset police officer was dismissed without notice at a misconduct hearing after she was nabbed holding the keys down on her laptop with a picture frame. In another example, an officer for Kent police used the trick to allow him to visit a gym and a golf course for hours during the working day.
The figures were obtained via freedom of information and public records checks. In total, 14 forces had dismissed staff, or forced them to resign, after investigations into the organised shirking.
At Greater Manchester police (GMP) anti-corruption investigators received a tip off that staff working from home were playing hooky. An audit using the force’s keystroke software, which is designed to detect unusual keyboard activity on its computers and devices, found 28 members of staff had been “key jamming”.
A GMP insider said: “Some of the staff were weighing down the space bar to pretend to be working, but instead were spending the day at the gym.” Four people have been dismissed and two have resigned.
The chief constable, Stephen Watson, has banned working from home while the probe continues. The insider added: “People have been taking the mickey. There are some police officers caught up in it, but it’s mostly backroom administrative staff.”
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