A low-ranking officer who admitted corruption has quit the Bermuda Police Service, the Commissioner of Police revealed yesterday.

Stephen Corbishley said that he had accepted the resignation of constable Kyle Wheatley.

Wheatley, 34, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defeat the ends of justice at the Supreme Court yesterday and will be sentenced today.

The charge involved the destruction or suppression of 63 traffic tickets between July 2017 and May 2018 and Mr Corbishley said that Wheatley took “beneficial gain in deciding not to continue with those tickets”.

Mr Corbishley added that it was important that officers were able to use discretion in some circumstances.

But he said: “What should never happen though is that officer takes a personal decision for his own benefit ... because that is corrupt behaviour.

“That is behaviour that undermines justice and it’s not the right thing. That cannot ever be accepted as a police officer.”

Mr Corbishley said that it was important to speak up when a police officer fell “below the standard expected by the public”.

He added: “That standard is that they work with integrity, they work with ethics, and they work, above all, with an honest service to the public.

“This particular officer chose to go another direction and put himself first and, indeed, he let down our local community in Bermuda and, indeed, he let down the Bermuda Police Service.”

But Mr Corbishley said that the behaviour of one officer “should not be used to reflect on the hard work, integrity and the ethics of officers and staff”.

He added that investigations continued into a separate “serious” allegation for which two other male officers have been arrested and suspended this month.

The commissioner declined to comment on the nature of the allegation, but said that the investigation was “sensitive in regards to what the victim has reported to us”.

Mr Corbishley said that a case that involved two female officers, who have been suspended, continued.

He confirmed the investigation also involved “corrupt behaviour”.

Mr Corbishley said that the women were on bail and that inquiries continued. He added: “We are confident that we are nearing the end of those inquiries and obviously a decision can then be made on what to do next.”

Mr Corbishley said that he did not deny that the police service had a problem with “a few rotten apples”.

But he added: “It’s a problem not indicative of the majority of those that come in to work for us.”

Mr Corbishley said that it was the integrity of police officers that gave confidence to the public.

He warned: “I make it clear, both to the public and indeed some of those people that work in the service, that they will be found out and their time with the BPS will no longer continue.”

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