A "disgraceful" police officer has been sacked for trawling the police computer system to gather information about women he wanted to have a relationship with.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) today confirmed that a 24-year-old police constable from Merseyside Police, who has not been named, had been dismissed after a misconduct panel concluded he had used police computer systems inappropriately.
The officer was found to have carried out 170 unauthorised "checks" on the computer over a three-year period, from October 2007 to October 2010.
The IPCC's managed investigation determined all of these checks were on women and none of the checks appeared to be as part of the officer's work.
Evidence suggested the officer conducted checks on the women after they had been in contact with police due to them committing offences, and in some cases the checks included accessing their police photographs, the IPCC said.
The officer admitted becoming involved in a relationship with one of the women whose records he had accessed.
The investigation found the officer had received a written warning previously in July 2010 due to unauthorised access of police systems.
On that occasion the access related to information about himself, his car and his family.
The IPCC said it was "evident" that despite this warning the officer continued to access the police systems without authorisation, with evidence suggesting more than 50 unauthorised checks being made following the issue of the warning.
IPCC commissioner Ms Naseem Malik said: "This officer has abused his position and the trust Merseyside Police placed in him.
"He accessed information about women apparently in the hope that he might then forge a relationship with them. This was disgraceful behaviour - made worse by the fact that he received a warning for a previous breach."
In addition the officer was found to be in unauthorised possession of a CS spray canister.
This was discovered during a search of his car. The panel found this allegation proven as a breach of the standards of professional behaviour.
In relation to the two proven charges the panel decided the officer had committed gross misconduct and he was dismissed without notice.
A file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service who determined the matter should be handled by the police disciplinary system.
The officer faced the hearing on December 9 2011 at the conclusion of an IPCC-managed investigation by Merseyside Police's Professional Standards Department.