A former United Kingdom (UK) police sergeant who created a “toxic” culture at work has been jailed for four years after encouraging colleagues to mistreat a teenage detainee and seeking access to an intimate video involving a female suspect.
The 41-year-old Paul Street was known for his “robust” style and “impressive results”. He also appeared on television programmes on the BBC and Channel 4.
Anti-corruption officers began investigating Street in 2021 after a new police officer reported him. The investigation uncovered two WhatsApp groups in which Street encouraged colleagues to “bully” a teenage detainee and asked a colleague to send him a sex video of a female suspect.
Street was working with Cambridgeshire Constabulary at the time and led a unit at Cambourne Police Station that mainly tackled county lines drug supply and organised crime.
Following a trial at the Old Bailey in June, Street, of Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, was found guilty of two counts of misconduct in public office.
He had earlier admitted two offences of unlawful disclosure of personal data relating to information and screenshots he sent to his partner in 2020.
Street appeared at the Old Bailey on Wednesday morning before Judge Mark Lucraft KC, alongside Josh Williams, 38, who pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office and was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
Eleven other officers were investigated over their conduct arising from the “toxic” culture fostered by Street.
Two officers resigned, one was dismissed for gross misconduct, one received a final warning, two were issued written warnings and five others were dealt with over low-level performance issues.
In April 2020, Street called on his team to “bully” Robiul Islam, then 17, encouraging them to “hit him” and “smash his head in”.
In autumn 2020, Williams was examining the phone of a female suspect whom he described to Street as “quite fit”.
Street asked if there were “any nudes”, and Williams replied that there was a video of the woman committing a sexual act.
Williams later sent Street a photo from the woman’s phone showing her in underwear.
The following year, Street asked on WhatsApp whether Williams still had the intimate private video because he wanted to show it to “the lads from footy”.
During an interview, Street claimed he wanted to see the images to reassure himself that the woman, who was released without charge, was not the victim of exploitative behaviour.
However, jurors were told that it was not Williams’s job to discuss or share the private images, and neither was it Street’s job to request the explicit material.
Giving evidence, Street admitted that his WhatsApp messages were “poor” but described the language as “gallows humour”, saying it was part of the culture at the time.
He also said he had become “arrogant” because of his success at work.
Street appeared on the BBC programme Britain’s Teenage Drug Runners in 2017 and featured in Channel 4’s Famous And Fighting Crime documentary in 2019.
Lisa Rose, Senior Specialist Prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime Division, said: “This case exposed a sustained pattern of unacceptable conduct by a police officer who abused his position of trust.
“Paul Street repeatedly crossed clear professional boundaries, by encouraging the mistreatment of detainees and seeking access to intimate material that had no place in a criminal investigation.
“Police officers are entrusted with significant powers and are expected to uphold the highest standards at all times. Members of the public should have confidence that any personal material obtained during an investigation will be handled lawfully and appropriately.
“The actions of Paul Street and Joshua Williams represented a serious breach of that trust.”