Rotherham police officer dismissed for drug use

A POLICE officer based in Rotherham has been sacked after testing positive for cocaine.

Julian Broddle, a PC who was based at Rotherham Police Station, accepted he had breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour and committed gross misconduct.

In March, former professional footballer Broddle (52) was called to the Professional Standards Department (PSD) of South Yorkshire Police for a random drugs test and his urine tested positive for cocaine. Further tests confirmed his use of the drug.

Oliver Paduch (21), a PC with the Special Constabulary who primarily worked at the Joint Special Operations Unit which operates countywide, also accepted he had breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour and committed gross misconduct.

In March, a colleague of Paduch reported concerns about racially abusive social media comments from his account.

The matter was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which ruled the case could be investigated internally. A review of his social media account by PSD found several comments and posts of a racially abusive nature.

The cases were dealt with in two separate special case hearings heard by the Chief Constable yesterday.

Both men were dismissed without notice.

Det Supt Dave Barraclough, head of the force’s PSD, said: “These officers have discredited themselves and the force they work for. The public quite rightly expect and deserve much better from the officers that protect and serve them.

“We are absolutely committed to tackling misconduct and addressing poor standards that fall below what is expected, which is why we chose to have special case hearings in these cases.

“These hearings can be applied for when it is in the public interest for the police officer concerned to cease to be an officer without delay – we don’t want individuals like this working for our force and I’m sure you, our public, don’t either.

“In both cases, it is as a result of our proactive approach to tackling poor standards of behaviour that Broddle and Paduch came to our attention. In Broddle’s case, it was a random drugs test of the sort routinely conducted within our organisation. In Paduch’s case, his colleague rightly recognised that what he had seen was entirely inappropriate and reported it immediately.

“These cases demonstrate our commitment to upholding high standards of behaviour in the force.”