Criticism of a police officer for failing to observe objectivity and impartiality during a conversation via SMS and Snapchat, and for failing in their duty to behave in a manner that instils trust

Summary of the decision: During a preliminary investigation, a police officer sent a text message to the injured party suggesting that any further communication between them should take place on Snapchat, as the app automatically deletes messages.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman holds that there is a risk that such behaviour will damage confidence in the objectivity of the criminal investigation and may give the impression that there is an intention to circumvent provisions on party insight and access to official documents. During the conversation, the police officer also expressed personal opinions and expressed themselves in a manner that the Parliamentary Ombudsman finds completely unacceptable for an official within the judicial system.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman notes that this behaviour contravenes the requirement of the Instrument of Government (1974:152) for objectivity and impartiality, as well as the duty of a police officer to behave in a manner that instils trust. The Parliamentary Ombudsman is also critical of the fact that, during the conversation, the injured party was asked questions that should have been put to them in a formal interview, and that the communication was not documented in the preliminary investigation material. The Parliamentary Ombudsman takes a grave view of this and criticises the police officer for their actions.