Officer who lied about GCSE results dismissed from Devon and Cornwall Police

A police officer has been dismissed from the force after he lied about passing his maths GCSE.

Following a disciplinary hearing that ended last month (25 April), the panel determined that PC Kye Smith's behaviour had fallen below the expected standards of professional behaviour, particularly in relation to "honesty and integrity".

The allegations against PC Smith, who had served in Bodmin, centred around his application to join the Devon and Cornwall Police as a constable back in 2019 on 6 May.

In the application, he claimed to have attained a Grade C in maths GCSE.

However later that year, on 11 November, he was informed that he had failed his 'maths function level 2' exam, which he contested and was subsequently given all his results, including his GCSEs.

When PC Smith signed the application form to join the force, he agreed to inform the recruitment officer of any changes in his declared circumstances.

Despite this, he failed to provide the information that he had not passed his level 2 maths exam and that he had provided incorrect GCSE results.

The Devon and Cornwall Recruitment Officer had requested PC Smith to provide his maths level 2 Certificate, but instead, he emailed only part of the table he had received, suggesting that he had completed the course.

PC Smith stated that he believed he held his maths level 2 Qualification. However, on 4 April 2022, PC Smith informed his inspector that he had failed and intended to re-take the qualification.

Chief Constable Will Kerr said: “PC Smith had multiple opportunities to correct this matter and chose not to do so. This was not a one-off, nor a minor error of judgement.

"During that protracted period, he remained a serving police officer drawing a salary from the public purse for a role he knew he was not fully qualified to have.

"The public deserves higher standards than this".

Chief Constable Will Kerr added: “The public deserves higher standards than this. PC Smith’s actions have, with repeated failure to admit that he did not hold a maths GCSE qualification at Grade C, fallen seriously short of the required standards of professional behaviour.

“My determination is that this conduct amounts to Gross Misconduct and that the behaviour was over such a protracted period of time that this warrants consideration of dismissal.”