Lying police officer avoids jail after pawning police phone at Cash Converters for £399
A former police officer who pawned his police-issued phone and tablet has avoided jail after being found guilty of two counts of theft.
In order to carry out his duties, Calum Power, 40, from Stockport in Greater Manchester, was given a £399 Samsung S9 phone and a £300 Samsung Galaxy Tab Active tablet, in May 2019.
But in September 2021, he took the phone to Cash Converters and placed it into a ‘buy back’ agreement - signing a contract in which he claimed the phone belonged to him.
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Three months later, Power reported the phone as missing to his employers, claiming that it slipped from his pocket and fell into a canal in Manchester city centre.
He also claimed to have accidentally disposed of the tablet, which was placed into similar ‘buy back’ schemes, when he was moving house in August 2020.
However, an investigation revealed that between October 2019 and September 2021, Power had put the phone into a buy back agreement with Cash Converters on three occasions and the tablet four times.
Power was found guilty of two counts of theft in August 2020 and January 2021 and seven charges of fraud by false representation in relation to pawning the phone and tablet.
He was given a 34-week sentence, suspended for 18 months and was told he must complete 15 rehabilitation days and 200 hours unpaid work.
He was also ordered to pay £400 compensation to Greater Manchester Police, £400 prosecution costs and a £156 victim surcharge.
Jeremy Bird, Senior Crown Prosecutor for Crown Prosecution Service in the northwest, said: "As a serving police officer Calum Power was in a position of trust and therefore expected to adhere to the strictest standards of behaviour and professional conduct, but his dishonest actions fell far short of those standards.
"This case demonstrates that no one is above the law including those meant to uphold it.
"The CPS and police will continue to work together to robustly prosecute anyone who engages in criminal activity whilst in positions of trust in our society."
Back in 2020, a trainee cop was barred from joining Thames Valley Police after he was found to have stolen seven full English breakfasts in his first 11 days on the job.
Jamie Larman, who was a police constable in training at Thames Valley Police in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, helped himself to the fry-ups from the canteen despite knowing he was not entitled to free meals, a hearing found.
Rookies who lived more than 20 miles from the police training centre were allowed free meals from the canteen, but due to his living within this catchment area and not paying, Larman's conduct was ruled to be 'dishonest' and lacking in 'integrity'.
A fellow student officer reported hearing Larman comment: "I'm not entitled to this, but I should be, I only live just inside the boundary."
Claire Reid