Senior officer behind Met drug strategy sacked over refusal to take drug test

The public will justifiably be outraged that any police officer, but particularly one of such a senior rank, refused a lawful order to take a drug test.

No, I'm outraged that as a rule, police officers don't refuse to take part in the absurd war on drugs, which drug tests are part of.

He has been suspended on full pay since July 2021.

Why?

This is the best summary I could come up with:

WhatsApp messages that Gomes sent to a friend showed “vitriol” towards Bennett after their relationship deteriorated, as well as a “propensity to lie”, the panel found.

The three-person panel also accepted Bennett’s reasoning that he had refused the drug test because he had taken legal CBD oil to treat his painful medical condition of Bells palsy, and that he feared this would give a positive result, rejecting another allegation that he had lied.

“The public will justifiably be outraged that any police officer, but particularly one of such a senior rank, refused a lawful order to take a drug test.

The chair, Akbar Khan, said the most likely reason for Bennett deciding to involve Dick “was to secure for himself high-level cover to deflect inevitable criticism and embarrassment that would come his way”.

He questioned Bennett’s reasoning, since he should have known that “if the goal of resignation was to avoid embarrassing the [Met], this was unlikely to be achieved” – as had been proven through the media attention given to the disciplinary process.

He presided over 74 police misconduct hearings – 69 as chair – between June 2010 and February 2012, which led to the dismissal of 56 officers, earning him the nickname “Sacker”.

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