Police officer recorded urinating in woman’s garden in Taunton

A complaint has been made to police after a woman recorded an officer appearing to urinate in her garden.

Hannah Condick, a mother-of-two from Taunton, Somerset, said she saw the officer looking around her garden on Tuesday morning shortly after 09:00 GMT.

She then recorded a video of the officer with his back to the house as he appeared to urinate in a flower bed. “A cat is buried in that garden,” Ms Condick said. “If you need a toilet, go knock on the door.”

Avon and Somerset Police said it was aware of the video and had forwarded the matter to its professional standards department.

“I have two kids, he’s lucky they weren’t in,” Ms Condick added.

“I wanted to shout out of the window – but I decided to take a video instead.

“He later saw me and looked a bit shocked that someone was in. He should have looked up.”

Ms Condick said she decided to post the video on Facebook, but “did not think it would get this much attention”.

An Avon and Somerset Police spokesperson said the officer in the video had been identified and had “given an initial account around the circumstances”.

They said it was understood that the incident occurred on Tuesday while the office was on duty.

“We are aware a video has been posted on social media relating to the behaviour of one of our officers within a private garden in Taunton,” the spokesperson said.

“Our professional standards department was immediately notified after this was raised with us yesterday. A public complaint has been received.

“We’d please respectfully ask people do not begin to speculate around the events that led up to this incident while our professional standards review is ongoing.

“We expect the highest level of professionalism and diligence from all our officers and staff when on duty and would like to reassure the public this incident is being looked into.”