A volunteer police officer has lost his job after a misconduct hearing ruled he stole three supermarket carrier bags worth a total of £1.20. Luke Hodgson, a special constable for West Mercia Police, failed to pay for bags belonging to his other employer, Sainsbury's, three times in December 2025.
Following an internal disciplinary process by the supermarket, he was sacked from his role at the store, which prompted an accelerated misconduct hearing about his volunteer policing role. That second hearing, chaired by Chief Constable Richard Cooper in July, has now concluded that Hodgson's behaviour had breached standards relating to honesty and integrity and his actions brought the police service into disrepute.
Chief Constable's findings
In his findings, Cooper said there was no dispute that Hodgson had failed to pay for the bags and had later been dismissed by his employer. The Chief Constable rejected Hodgson's explanation that he had inadvertently failed to pay for the bags, finding instead that he knew payment was required and chose not to make it.
The officer had been trained to use self-service tills and had correctly paid for bags on other occasions. Each transaction also required the user to actively confirm that no bag had been taken, the hearing was told.
Dishonesty ruling
Cooper concluded that "an ordinary person would consider this action, to avoid payment when it was obviously required, to be dishonest". While acknowledging the financial loss to Sainsbury's was low, he said the case caused wider harm because police officers were expected to act honestly and maintain public trust.
The hearing was told Hodgson had repaid the money and fully co-operated with the investigation, and that he had no previous recorded matters of concern during his service. However, Cooper said, deliberate dishonesty was "not compatible with the high standards of integrity that are required of the service".
Barred from policing
Hodgson was dismissed without notice and will be placed on the College of Policing's barred list, preventing him from serving as a police officer in future.
Cooper concluded: "I have found SC Hodgson to have acted dishonestly and to have committed theft, which fundamentally undermines his ability to function as a police officer. This is not compatible with the high standards of integrity that are required of the service.
"There are no other recorded matters of concern in SC Hodgson’s brief service before this episode, but I do not believe that exceptional circumstances exist that would lead to deviation from the presumption of dismissal. Indeed, dismissal is the necessary outcome.
"Having arrived at the conclusion of deliberate dishonesty amounting to theft, public confidence cannot be maintained by SC Hodgson retaining the office of constable. He will therefore be dismissed without notice. As a consequence of this finding, he will be included on the barred list held by College of Policing.
"I acknowledge that these proceedings will have been difficult for SC Hodgson but ultimately my greatest concern must be the integrity of the service."
