Commissioner kicks out ‘unprofessional’ police chief

Stuart Hyde, who was suspended as the force’s temporary chief last September, has become the third top officer to be effectively dismissed by a police and crime commissioner since the new position was introduced last year.

Cumbria’s crime commissioner Richard Rhodes said evidence unearthed by an independent investigation showed the former West Yorkshire Police detective to be guilty of a “lack of professionalism” and “poor judgement”.

The probe carried out by South Wales Police into Mr Hyde’s conduct found he spent too much time out of the county, including on a number of foreign trips, breached force policy on credit card use and used social media inappropriately.

It found there was no evidence of misconduct relating to any of the five allegations he faced but made 36 recommendations for Mr Hyde and the force to follow.

The report was delivered to Mr Rhodes last month, but he disagrees with its findings and says Mr Hyde does have a case to answer for misconduct over several aspects of his behaviour.

He says referring the temporary chief constable to a misconduct panel would be too costly and time-consuming but that after “careful consideration” he has started the process to ask the chief constable to resign or retire.

It means Mr Hyde, who still lives in Ilkley, has had his existing suspension lifted only to be immediately re-suspended while the process of asking him to quit is carried out.

Under legislation introduced last year which created the role of police and crime commissioner, any chief constable asked to resign or retire must do so.

In a statement issued immediately after the announcement by the PCC, Mr Hyde said he was “surprised and shocked” by the decision not to accept the South Wales report’s recommendations. Details of the allegations about Mr Hyde’s conduct were not released at the time of his suspension but have now been revealed by Mr Rhodes.

They include the claim that he failed to produce a VAT receipt on more than half the occasions when he used his force credit card, many of which were for personal expenses.

He was said to have sent a number of messages on social network Twitter which “may have undermined public confidence” in the police, including several deemed “offensive and unprofessional” and others which seemed to promote local businesses.

Mr Hyde used air miles from a business trip to Bermuda to pay for a personal trip to Tunisia during annual leave, the report said.

In a statement, Mr Rhodes said: “I am very mindful of my overriding obligation to secure the effective and efficient policing of Cumbria.

“I am aware that there were genuine and substantiated concerns about Mr Hyde’s ability to deliver operational policing during the eight months when he was temporary Chief Constable, prior to his suspension.”

In October, Mr Hyde was cleared of serious misconduct by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). But the investigation by South Wales Police continued and Mr Hyde remained suspended.

Bernard Lawson from Merseyside Police took over Mr Hyde’s role temporarily in September. Mr Hyde was Deputy Chief Constable when he was made temporary Chief Constable in January 2012.

Mr Hyde said the decision to remove him from office was “disproportionate and not in the best interests” of Cumbria Police.

He said: “It has come as a shock to me and I am very surprised by the fact that, as a result of the investigation findings, the PCC has lifted my suspension and then immediately re-suspended me and he is attempting to remove me from office under the same facts, which the investigation clearly stated found no evidence of misconduct.”