A Metropolitan Police officer who was sacked after taking cocaine was caught out by a video posted on TikTok. Former PC Leon Arif was filmed implying his drug use and ‘need for more’ after an acquaintance asked him what he was ‘sniffing’, leading bosses to demand a drugs test.
He tested positive for the Class A in mid-February and was hauled before a misconduct hearing last Monday (June 2). Choosing not to attend, Asif previously insisted his drink must have been spiked during a night out as he would not take cocaine ‘voluntarily’.
Presiding officer Laurence Taylor, the Assistant Commissioner of Professionalism at the Metropolitan Police, rebuked this claim, citing a lack of credibility. The hearing’s report notes Arif only reported his alleged spiking six weeks after his drugs test.
It reads: “PC Arif had no regard to the harm it [cocaine use] could cause to the public, his colleagues and himself, and the great harm to the public trust and confidence in the MPS. The public would not expect a serving police officer to undertake duties whilst unfit by taking drugs.
“PC Arif would know the physical and mental effects of cocaine use and would know full well that it affects judgement alongside other things and so would make him unfit for duty.”
Dismissed without notice
The panel found the former PC had breached professional standards and committed gross misconduct, with his behaviour deemed ‘highly serious’. The Assistant Commissioner was unable to demote him due to his low rank, and felt a final written warning was not in the public interest as it is ‘wholly unacceptable’ for serving officers to consume illegal substances.
As such, Arif was dismissed from his post without notice. He will also be placed on the College of Policing’s barred list, preventing him serving on any UK police force, or working for the Independent Office for Police Conduct or His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services.
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