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30
Oct
North Yorkshire Police officer who searched people he knew on database avoids jail
A former North Yorkshire Police officer who searched people he had a “personal relationship with” on an internal computer system has avoided prison.
Simon Barker, 36, pleaded guilty to gaining unauthorised access to data at Leeds Magistrates Court today (October 30).
Barker, who lives in Leeds, was previously found to have committed gross misconduct in December 2024 by filming himself masturbating in a room at a police station and sending the footage to his former partner via WhatsApp in February 2022.
He was barred from policing at the time and would have been dismissed had he not already resigned, North Yorkshire Police said in a statement today.
The force added enquiries into Barker’s conduct as a police officer revealed he had made “numerous searches on an internal computer system” without any policing purpose.
It said:
Investigators found Barker had a personal relationship with, and links to, the individuals he searched for.
Barker was arrested and subsequently charged with gaining unauthorised access to data, an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.
Barker, who served as a North Yorkshire Police officer between 2018 and 2024, was today handed a four-month custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months.
He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and pay a total of £230 to the court.
Deputy chief constable Scott Bissett said:
North Yorkshire Police is very clear on the standards expected of all officers and staff with access to police information, and we have rigorous systems in place to audit this access.
Members of the public rightly expect the police to treat the sensitive information we hold with the utmost care and integrity. The vast majority of our officers and staff do so with the highest levels of professionalism. Barker, however, abused the trust placed in him, and now has a criminal record as a result.
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