Police officer sacked for paying 90p too little for charity Jaffa Cakes

[IsavedLatin]

I feel like my brain has imploded, and I would like to see if this story has a similar effect on anyone else: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/14/police-officer-sacked-for-paying-90p-too-little-for-charity-jaffa-cakes

[Butchers Blind]

Were they in the biscuit aisle or the cake aisle?

[Ham Bap]

Thats taking the biscuit.

[jobotic]

He should have exposed himself to the female officer then he would have got the full backing of all the others

[shiftwork2]

All cops are biscuitstealers.

"Stealing is stealing".

Not sure of my point.

[JamesTC]

He's a fucking idiot.

[Ferris]

Should have turned his body cam off, removed his name tag, and battered the jaffa cakes with a nightstick then refused to speak to anyone except the union and hoped it was a slow news day.

Honestly what do they teach these rookies down the station.

[chveik]

they didn't mention he is also a nonce and a murderer

[mothman]

"Phew!" says another cop, "I don't think I could bear it if they stopped calling me 'Rapist' and started calling me 'Jaffapincher' instead !"

[Catalogue Trousers]

WHAT ABOUT THE JAFFA CAKES ASSWIPE

[Twonty Gostelow]

Quite happy about this to be honest.

[IsavedLatin]

I wasn't quite going for the ACAB angle with this, but just ... the idea that you could lose your job over this infraction feels mad to me. Surely there's more going on here? Was the guy on his last warning for some other misconduct and this was the thing to tip it over the edge? Or is it justifiable that such a relatively low-stakes misdemeanour, because it is by definition thievery, deserves the full weight of losing your job?

I also found verbiage like this most amusing:

The hearing heard that colleagues raised concerns that the officer had underpaid for the chocolate, and upon further investigation discovered that the cash float was up by only 10p.

It's a rich text.

[JamesTC]

If he admitted it and paid the money, he'd have gotten off with a slap on the wrist. It is the fact he tripled down on the deceit.

[Endicott]

Or is it justifiable that such a relatively low-stakes misdemeanour, because it is by definition thievery, deserves the full weight of losing your job?

Losing your job as a policeman.

Do you not agree that the people who are trying to discover dishonesty in others must be seen to be scrupulously honest themselves?

[IsavedLatin]

Losing your job as a policeman.

Do you not agree that the people who are trying to discover dishonesty in others must be seen to be scrupulously honest themselves?

I take your point, but this incident does sound to me like acting like a silly bollocks -- until, as JamesTC says, you triple down on it, at which point it's definitely a serious issue.

But to throw away that person's training etc. entirely, rather than to issue him with a serious written warning ... am I being too soft here?

[Butchers Blind]

"How'd you lose your job ex-policeman mate?"
"Tried to underpay a charity for a packet of Jaffa Cakes"
"...."

[imitationleather]

The Golden State Killer has a similar tale.

I hope the police will be keeping a very close eye on this bloke.

[Icehaven]

I wasn't quite going for the ACAB angle with this, but just ... the idea that you could lose your job over this infraction feels mad to me. Surely there's more going on here? Was the guy on his last warning for some other misconduct and this was the thing to tip it over the edge? Or is it justifiable that such a relatively low-stakes misdemeanour, because it is by definition thievery, deserves the full weight of losing your job?

I thought there must be more to it, someone gunning for him or something, but then if he was given the chance to own up and just pay but he carried on lying instead I can also see why that'd have to be escalated too, if the alternative was letting someone get away with barefaced lying to their colleagues. Given he was sacked rather than warned/suspended etc. does suggest maybe a bit of both though.

[Endicott]

I take your point, but this incident does sound to me like acting like a silly bollocks -- until, as JamesTC says, you triple down on it, at which point it's definitely a serious issue.

But to throw away that person's training etc. entirely, rather than to issue him with a serious written warning ... am I being too soft here?

I get your point too. Stealing jaffa cakes does sound a little trivial. You could normally expect this to be on a case by case basis, and in this case the serious warning, further training approach might be a reasonable solution.

I think there is a little more going on though, not with this particular officer, but with the perception of the force in general, in light of recent events, particularly Wayne Couzens. You'll note that North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Philip Allott has just resigned over those stupid comments he made. The Police Force is entrenched in its ways; it needs to change but quite obviously it will not. From its perspective, it needs to be seen to be zero tolerant of any transgression its officers make. 

[earl_sleek]

For almost any other job it's a ridiculously diproportionate punishment, but for a pig I'd say it's fair.

[idunnosomename]

Hangings too good for im

[Replies From View]

Sad news of course is that Jaffa Cakes will now need to permanently carry a message of condolence beneath the brand name "Jaffa Cakes", as follows:

JAFFA CAKES ^TM
now shoved by cops up their arses, or whatever it was

[PlanktonSideburns]

Not read the article, but it definitely didn't happen did it?

[Replies From View]

Dwyer initially claimed he had put five 20p pieces into the cash tin, but later said he could not remember the "exact denomination". Another officer present said she only "heard the noise of one coin" as he dropped it in the tin.

Doomy Dwyer, it means.


Anyway why pretend you had faffed about with 5 coins when you could claim you didn't properly check which singular coin you put into the coin box thing.

"I thought it was a £1 coin I put in, because by touch that's what my inexplicably cold fingers sensed, and I'd forgotten I had broken my expected £1 coin earlier that morning by buying a Twix."


Or:  "I thought I was generously furnishing the charity with one of those wider-than-10p £2 coins you can get, however to my horror, without checking I had of course only turned out a measly 10p after all.  Idiot!!"



How can you fudge making this appear to be a simple error, is my question.

[Glebe]

"He deserved to be sacked if you ask me."

[Johnny Yesno]

It's interesting that there seems to be very little trust between members of this workplace:

Dwyer initially claimed he had put five 20p pieces into the cash tin, but later said he could not remember the "exact denomination". Another officer present said she only "heard the noise of one coin" as he dropped it in the tin.

I mean, in my workplace, no one is checking what anyone drops in a charity box. It's naive, perhaps, but life's too short.

[Replies From View]

imagine if you had a memory of how many coins were dropping in each time

[zomgmouse]

maybe we'll get them all like this

[Replies From View]

maybe we could expand it into a covert undercover business of some kind

[robhug]

this sets a very serious precedent. Every single fucker on here has short changed a charity tin, so the repercussions will affect this very board.

People from Yorkshire are famously tight, so does this story play up to a lazy stereotype?