Met Police officer who suggested a positive drugs test for cocaine was due to medication she was taking has been fired.
PC Deborah Chapman was given “with cause” drugs test at work on November 17 last year which came back positive for cocaine.
A misconduct panel heard that the officer claimed the test was flawed and that the positive reading may have been caused by medication she was taking.
However, a medical expert told the misconduct hearing that “PC Chapman’s medication would not have caused a positive test result for cocaine.”
It heard that the level of benzoylecgonine recorded – a substance produced when the body metabolises cocaine – “was 8 times higher than the cut off level to indicate a positive test result.”
In a ruling published Friday, panel chair Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray said: “It is clear, however, that on 17th November 2022, PC Chapman had the controlled drug cocaine in her system.
“There is no plausible explanation for this, other than the fact that PC Chapman knowingly took cocaine.
“It is also of relevance that this was a “with cause” drugs test – i.e. there was intelligence to suggest that PC Chapman had been taking drugs which led to her being tested.”
She upheld a finding of gross misconduct, saying the officer could not have been fit for duty due to the presence of the drug in her bloodstream.
“She can only have obtained the cocaine through illegal means, opening herself up to the possibility of blackmail,” Assistant Commissioner Gray added.
PC Chapman, who was attached to the Met Police Taskforce, was dismissed without notice.
