Ben McGuinness was added to the College of Policing barred listA former constable would have been sacked for what he did on Instagram had he not already left the force. Ben McGuinness was a serving Merseyside Police constable when he operated Glo Up Competitions, despite his business interest application being declined.
On August 22, 2024, McGuinness told his line manager he intended to repurpose Glo Up Travel into a raffle company and rename it as Glo Up Competitions. He submitted the business interest application to his manager in relation to Glo Up Competitions, Glo up Beauty and Glo Up Events.
On September 23 that year, McGuinness was told his application in respect of Glo Up Beauty and Glo Up Events had been approved with conditions but his application for Glo Up Competitions had been declined.
The following month it was clear that Mr McGuinness had continued to run the competitions business despite the rejection, posting on Instagram regularly despite not having approval.
According to official guidance, police officers can have business interests outside of their work on the force, but these interests are subject to strict regulations.
One of the main reasons an application can be rejected is how reputable it is in its own right, in the eyes of the public and in association with the police force. Merseyside Police can make the decision to decline moving ahead with the application if it comes into conflict with the “values and ethos of the police force”.
In posts seen by the ECHO, photos began appearing on the business’s Instagram page on July 17, 2024, with six being posted that day. A post was then published introducing Ben, the “face behind Glo Up Ltd”, on July 23 before the first post about a raffle for an advent calendar was published on August 27.
The last competition to be published on its social media channels was on April 7, raffling a £150 B&Q gift card. The page has around 1,000 followers at the time of writing and says it has “winners each week”.
In a written decision of the accelerated misconduct hearing held on May 8 at Merseyside Police Headquarters, Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said: “Having been told that he could not run this business the former officer completely ignored this and carried on regardless.
“I state again that it is my view that the evidence in this case is incontrovertible in relation to breaches of Orders and instructions/Duties and responsibilities & Discreditable conduct.
“The evidence bundle clearly shows that the former officer was informed on the 23rd September 2024 that his business interest had been declined and it was sent to the former officer’s home address and sent to him via his Federation representative.
“There is also evidence that this was completely ignored and that the former officer operated this business.”
The Chief Constable continued: “I have considered whether a final written warning would have been appropriate if still serving, but for all the reasons outlined above, as well as that the communities of Merseyside should quite rightly be able to have trust and confidence that the officers and staff working for Merseyside Police uphold the law and abide by it, I do not think that is appropriate.
“My sanction in this case is immediate dismissal without notice should the officer still have been serving. The officer will also be placed on the College of Policing barred list.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Sabi Kaur, from Merseyside Police’s Professional Standards Department, said: “All our officers and staff know of the high professional standards that are expected of them both on and off duty.
“The business interest ran by PC McGuinness was rejected on the grounds it was not reputable. However, despite this he continued to operate without approval which the panel found amounted to gross misconduct and he would have been dismissed had he not resigned.
“I hope that the result of the hearing sends a clear message that we simply will not tolerate this type of behaviour from our officers and staff. When those standards are not met, we will take swift and effective action to ensure that we retain the public’s confidence in the force.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Kaur added: “We want to hear about officers and staff who do not uphold the values we demand and have introduced Call It Out, an internal campaign to encourage colleagues to call out behaviour that does not align with our principles. It empowers officers and staff to challenge behaviour in the workplace, as well as providing an avenue to confidentially report behaviour into our Professional Standards Department.
“It’s our aim to stop such behaviour, by rooting out those prepared to cross the line and to demonstrate very clearly what is not acceptable in Merseyside Police.
“The public quite rightly have high expectations of our officers and staff which we seek to uphold to ensure we meet those expectations. When those standards are not met, we will take swift and effective action to ensure that we retain the public’s trust and confidence in the force.”
Members of the Community are also encouraged to use the Crimestoppers Police Anti-Corruption and Abuse Reporting Service on 0800 085 0000 . This is a national service to support the public to speak up about corruption and abuse by police officers, staff and volunteers. People can report anonymously or confidentially if they are willing to leave their details for the Merseyside Police Anti-Corruption investigation team to ask additional questions.