South Yorkshire Police sack Special Constable found guilty of sending pictures of genitals to trainee officers

The action was taken against Special Constable Faran Hanson following a misconduct hearing held at South Yorkshire Police’s Professional Standards Department in Sheffield on October 31, during which Hanson’s behaviour was found to amount to gross misconduct.

Misconduct proceedings followed Hanson’s conviction for using a public electronic communications network to send a message that is grossly offensive or indecent, following a trial at Leeds Magistrates’ Court earlier this year. When he was sentenced, Hanson, then aged 26, was handed a two-year community order, 60 days of rehabilitation activity requirements, 200 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay costs. He was also served with restraining orders for each of his victims.

The hearing heard how Hanson was a serving Special Constable for South Yorkshire Police when he sent images of his genitals to three female acquaintances over Snapchat between July 2020 and June 2021, two of whom were trainee officers under his supervision. At the time, Hanson held a role involving the training of new recruits, the court heard.

His offending was brought to light when, in May 2021, a woman came forward to report that she had received an explicit image via Snapchat. An investigation was launched, and the sender of the image was identified as Hanson. He was arrested and immediately suspended from duty. Enquiries subsequently identified more women who had received offensive and indecent images from Hanson over social networking sites.

After being charged over his conduct, Hanson denied the offences and the women he targeted were forced to give evidence at a trial. The court was told how prior to Hanson joining South Yorkshire Police, he had been disciplined by a former employer for what a Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson described as ‘similar behaviour’.

Following Hanson’s conviction, The Star asked South Yorkshire Police whether he had been vetted prior to being given a position with the force. A spokesperson said at the time: “Hanson was subject to vetting, as any prospective employee is when joining SYP. As a Special Constable, Hanson will have had other employment running alongside his duties in SYP, as they are unpaid volunteers.”

The Star also asked the force if they were aware of the disciplinary procedures Hanson’s former employer had carried out. The spokesperson added: “When the disclosure was made that there had been a disciplinary issue at Hanson’s other employment, this information was reviewed and assessed by senior officers, but at the time he began working for SYP he had not yet begun working for the employer where the disciplinary action took place (so in effect, the disciplinary matter hadn’t happened yet or been dealt with yet).”

The SYP spokesperson confirmed that Hanson’s employer was not another police force. They also stated that the two female recruits targeted by Hanson were both still working for South Yorkshire Police.