"It's frankly baffling. A Metropolitan Police officer, PC Shabul Miah, was fired for using his work phone to solicit sex workers while on duty. Seriously? He sent a 'significant number' of texts to numbers linked to adult websites over six months, some during his actual work hours. You'd think a police officer, of all people, would understand the concept of a private phone. Why risk his career and reputation by using a device that's clearly monitored? It's just plain silly.
Chief Superintendent Dan Card's statement about 'personal sexual gratification' and 'standards we expect' is a polite way of saying PC Miah made an incredibly stupid choice. The misconduct hearing rightly concluded that his behavior was likely to damage the Met's reputation and public trust. He was dismissed without notice and will now be on the barred list, meaning he can't work for any police-related organization. It's a steep price to pay for what seems like a completely avoidable, and frankly, ridiculous, mistake."