A cop has been fired from their job for coming up with a devious way to make it appear like they were hard at work, when they were in fact hardly working at all.
With many employers able to monitor activity through mouse movement and keyboard input, even remote workers can find it difficult to hide long breaks or time spent away from the screen.
In this case, a UK police sergeant believed she’d found a simple workaround. Rather than using any specialist software, she allegedly wedged the corner of a picture frame onto her laptop keyboard, holding down keys so her computer wouldn’t go to sleep—making it look as though she was active.
The officer, identified as Sergeant X during an accelerated misconduct hearing held this week, accepted that she used the picture frame to keep keys pressed and create the impression she was working. But the approach quickly drew attention for the wrong reasons.
While the setup initially made it seem as if she was online, technical staff at police headquarters reportedly noticed something unusual: the number of keystrokes being recorded from her account was far higher than normal.
The pattern was flagged quickly, and investigators later concluded she had been able to avoid working properly for much of April and May 2024. The force’s professional standards department then opened an investigation into her conduct in June that year.
During the hearing, it was said that her keystroke levels across the two months were between 300 and 800 percent higher than those of colleagues—an anomaly that helped expose what was happening.
Presented with the evidence, Sergeant X admitted what she had done, but told the panel she began using the picture frame during a period of serious personal difficulty, and that it allowed her to remain available for urgent calls while dealing with other issues.
However, the panel determined her conduct met the threshold for gross misconduct. As a result, she was dismissed and barred from future employment with the police or other law enforcement bodies.
The panel did not make her personal circumstances public, and it was agreed she would keep anonymity following the outcome.
Det Supt Larisa Hunt, the head of Avon and Somerset Police’s Professional Standards Department, said: “It is extremely disappointing an officer has behaved in a way which could not only discredit the police force, but also undermine the public confidence in respect of our duties and responsibilities.
“We know officers and staff deal with immense pressure and high workloads, and while Sgt X had some mitigating circumstances, it’s unacceptable for an officer to act in this deliberate and deceitful way by abusing the trust placed in her, by making it appear she was working when she was not.
“We recognise the overwhelming majority of our officers and staff work hard to protect the public.”