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‘Twerking’ police officer fired for assaulting colleague at party

A female police officer who assaulted two colleagues at a drunken party has been dismissed.

PC Pamela Pritchard, 29, put her hands on a male colleague’s waist twice and later got on his knees to kiss him, after drinking while leaving Caernarfon Rugby Club, Gwynedd, in March 2024.

A North Wales police officer also grabbed a female colleague’s breast after “twerking” on the dance floor and later tried to kiss a senior colleague.

A panel at a misconduct hearing in Colwyn Bay, Conwy, found that all allegations against him were proven and that he had breached the force’s standards of conduct.

PC Pritchard, who joined North Wales Police as a trainee in 2023, admitted his drunken behavior was inappropriate, but denied it was gross misconduct.

She previously told the hearing that she was “humiliated” by seeing footage of herself on CCTV, and remembered little of what happened at the party on 29 March 2024.

The four-day trial heard that PC Pritchard was one of a large number of police officers attending a colleague’s leaving party.

Among them were PC Pritchard and another male officer, referred to in the hearing as “Police Constable B”.

PC Bee told the hearing on Monday that she and another female colleague were in a bar with PC Pritchard when “out of the blue, PC Pritchard grabbed me below the belt and put his hand on my privates outside my clothes”.

He said: “It was not appropriate at all – I felt humiliated at the time.”

He added that he later did the same thing again when a group of officers went outside the smoking area.

“She grabbed my privates outside my clothes and I distinctly remember her squeezing.”

PC Pritchard admitted his drunken behavior was inappropriate, but denied it was gross misconduct [Facebook]

At about 22:00 BST, PC Pritchard came back to PC B and got down on his knees.

“I remember him putting his arms around my neck and kissing me on the lips,” he said.

“It wasn’t appropriate – it was in public. His behavior became more and more unacceptable.”

The hearing was shown CCTV from the rugby club which showed PC Pritchard “twerking” on the dance floor in a series of suggestive dance moves.

A female police officer, identified as “Police Constable A”, told the hearing: “PC Pritchard came up from behind me and put both of his hands around my neck, then under my arms and grabbed my breasts and squeezed them.”

PC Pritchard apologized to PC A when giving evidence at the hearing earlier this week.

She said: “My behavior that evening was inappropriate, I have never behaved like that before.

“I’m absolutely devastated by what happened – I don’t recognize the person I saw on that CCTV – I can only apologise.”

“I feel like I’ve let the police down, I’ve let myself down and I’ve let my family down,” she said.

She said she had “terrors and nightmares” and “people thought I was a sex predator”.

The panel chairman, Assistant Chief Constable Chris Allsop, said on Thursday that “all allegations against PC Pritchard have been proven”.

“Overall, the panel found that violations of the standards were of moderate to high severity that could justify dismissal as gross misconduct,” he said.

Barrister Fiona Clancy, representing PC Pritchard, argued that he should be allowed to keep his job with the police.

“She accepts that her behavior was unacceptable. It was a short-term, short-term episode, and there is no risk of it happening again.

“PC Pritchard has been doing voluntary work while she awaits this hearing, and keeping her fitness levels up – there is a real motivation to continue serving the community.”