An Essex Police officer who also served as a community pastor has been found guilty of gross misconduct and dismissed without notice after a panel examined his conduct toward two members of his congregation. Police Constable Daniel Stanley, who worked in the force's hate crime unit, was accused of crossing lines that police officers are meant to protect, not blur.
The misconduct panel found Stanley had breached standards of honesty and integrity, authority, respect and courtesy, and discreditable conduct. It heard that as a pastor he had made negative comments about two members of his congregation on the social media profile of the church he was associated with, including a sermon in which he accused them of public nudity and fraud.
The two were not named. One had taken up a position as a minister elsewhere, and both had been living with Stanley before leaving after the relationship broke down. On August 5, 2023, he uploaded a voice message to social media in which another person made accusations of immorality about the pair. Stanley said he and the board had decided to broadcast the live stream so his congregation could know the true reason as to why they had left his home, and he said it was meant to safeguard the reputation of the church.
The panel rejected that explanation. It found the upload was an act of vengeance, not an exercise of Stanley's religious beliefs, and said he had circulated information he had no evidence to prove. The panel concluded that the insulting remarks showed he lacked integrity as an officer, and that the posts were intentional, deliberate and targeted at two people, with harm that could have been clearly foreseen. That risk, it said, was even greater because of his role as a hate crime officer.
ACC Morris said Stanley had a position of power and authority in both roles and had a duty to treat everyone connected with them respectfully. He said comments of that nature are not acceptable for people in those posts, and added that thousands of hard-working officers are let down by actions that fell far below the standards expected of those serving Essex Police. The ruling leaves little room for doubt: the force judged that Stanley used the reach of both pulpit and police badge to settle a personal grievance, and that was enough to end his career.
