Wolverhampton police officer parked in disabled bay while buying cakes

A ‘rude’ and ‘abrupt’ police officer parked in a disabled bay while buying cakes a short walk from her station – but the force did not pursue a parking ticket over fears it would damage its reputation.

Senior officers at West Midlands Police decided against passing the matter to Wolverhampton council for a ticket because ‘the press might become aware’.

Pc Simina Muntean was instead referred on to an informal performance management process following the incident on April 16 in 2016.

The matter came to light following an employment tribunal where Romanian-born Pc Muntean claimed she was subject of victimisation from her bosses for whistleblowing.

Tribunal Judge Perry dismissed her case, stating her managers were entitled to take the action followed, and Pc Muntean continues to work for the force as a response officer in Sandwell.

Claims by her she was racially discriminated over a ‘strong personality’ linked to her Romanian heritage were also not substantiated.

The hearing heard how she:

• Used the term ‘d***head’ when speaking to a boy involved in a dispute with his mother

• Complained in front of a rape victim she would be late home from work

• Failed to get out of a car to deal with a crash where a person was injured

• Followed a male offender in his pyjamas shorts upstairs in a house where he got changed

• Accused two driving test instructors who failed her of being racist

The tribunal heard how the force faced repeated problems of Pc Muntean parking in a disabled parking bay at Wolverhampton’s Bilston Street Police Station, with the matter coming to a head when she was given a verbal warning.

She claimed there was ‘no requirement’ for the bays at the time and there were no other spaces, but officers at the station said there were and she was told to contact her supervisor if she came across the same problem again.

But four months later, when buying cakes from a shop five minutes walk from the police station, she used a public disabled parking bay.

Forfeit

The hearing heard how she often bought cakes as a forfeit for sometimes being late ahead of a shift briefing.

Her bosses initially decided to issue her a fixed penalty, but on discovering it was Wolverhampton council’s responsibility to issue the ticket, they decided to drop the idea and instead place her on unsatisfactory performance procedures (UPP).

A judgment report said: “Inspector McElroy-Baker accepted the respondent (West Midlands Police) did not have the power to do so, that it would have to be issued by the local authority and that gave rise to the reputational risk the respondent was concerned about.

"Insp Churchill told us she did not feel that was in the best interests of the respondent or Pc Muntean for the matter to be passed to the local authority, the press might become aware of that and the best course of action was to move to an informal UPP Development plan.”

The hearing then heard, less than a week after the incident, Pc Muntean parked a marked police car outside the rear car park fire exit at the Bilston Street Police Station.

In giving evidence, it was said Pc Muntean’s actions to avoid parking in disabled parking bays demonstrated she had a ‘little regard for authority’. The judgement report said: “We find that is so.”

Pc Muntean claimed 20 allegations put to her in the UPP were ‘unsubstantiated, embellished in order to paint her in a negative light, untrue and/or stale’. She also claimed her boss was actively keeping ‘a tag on me’.

The hearing also heard about other incidents prior to the UPP.

Warned

In April in June 2015, Pc Muntean had been warned for potentially ‘inflaming’ an incident when she allegedly told a boy to ‘stop behaving like a d***head’.

She claimed to have said ‘stop acting like one’.

A month later it was alleged, in the presence of a rape victim, she said dealing with the case would mean she would be late finishing her duty.

She told the hearing she had made the comment, but not in front of the victim.

In 2016, she stopped at a car crash where one vehicle had driven off and someone had been injured. But she allegedly failed to get out of her car, pick up the registration plate of the offending vehicle from the road or pass on the incident over her radio.

The tribunal heard how a number of officers had said Pc Muntean was ‘rude, abrupt and opinionated and generally difficult to work with’.

Pc Muntean joined the force as a student police officer in 2009, serving on a unit in east Birmingham.

In 2013 she was posted to Wolverhampton, starting at Wednesfield Police Station before moving to the Bilston Street Station.

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "All police officers are expected to uphold the same laws and regulations that apply to members of the public and can only exempt themselves if it is proportionate, legal and necessary to do so.

"This is explicit in the Police Code of Ethics and standards of professional behaviour.

"If officers are found to have contravened legislation or expectations then they are held accountable for their decisions and actions through police performance or discipline measures.

"This may involve formal action, including prosecutions for matters including road traffic and by-law offences."