A FORMER Essex Police officer cheated on an exam by looking up answers beforehand.

Former PC Mohammed Khan was found to have committed two counts of gross misconduct, having fallen below the force’s high expectations in honesty and integrity, authority, respect and courtesy and committed discreditable conduct.

It was alleged that, while sitting an exam at Essex Police College in April 2020, former PC Khan used a laptop to access practice questions and answers, practice questions with answers and Government legislation relating to topics which were covered in the exam.

Later in the same month, it was also alleged former PC Khan sent an inappropriate message to three fellow probationer officers.

The misconduct hearing took place remotely on August 3.

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A panel chaired by legally qualified chair Jane Jones found the allegations of gross misconduct proved.

The outcome of the proceedings was that if the officer has not already resigned he would have been dismissed without notice.

The effect of this is that his details will appear on the police barred list.

Former PC Khan did not attend the hearing.

Assistant Chief Constable Rachel Nolan said: “At Essex Police we expect the very highest professional standards from all of our officers and staff, whether at the very beginning of their career or many years into it, and where officers or staff fall below those standards we do not shy away from tackling it.

“The vast majority of our officers and staff are professional and diligent and they work hard every day to protect and serve the communities of Essex.

“However, in this case former PC Khan clearly fell beneath our accepted standards of professionalism.

“I can assure the Essex public that where this does happen, we deal with it robustly and we want the public to know that where we will never shy away from tackling these matters and will continue to do all we can to ensure their force is the best it can be.”