Police detective sacked after causing crash while speeding and on his phone and possession of a firearm

A detective at Cambridgeshire Police has been sacked after a misconduct hearing, which found multiple breaches of professional standards.

In October 2021, former DC Michael Chang was sentenced to 16 months in prison – suspended for two years – after pleading guilty to dangerous driving and possession of a firearm (his police-issued PAVA spray).

He was also ordered to pay £5,300 fine and costs and disqualified from driving for 14 months.

Documents presented prior to the hearing stated that Chang drove an unmarked police vehicle dangerously, at speeds of and in excess of 100 mph and whilst using a mobile phone, resulting in a collision.

"Additionally, DC Chang; drove the vehicle with emergency equipment activated in non-emergency circumstances, failed to remain at the scene of the collision, failed to notify his supervisor of the collision whilst on a call with her following the incident, failed to report the collision to his control room, failed to give a full and truthful account to a supervisor who dealt with the RTC procedure, and misled or lied to the court in respect of a piece of evidence in that he suggested his line manager told him to destroy a card containing witness details in a dishonest manner.”

Ahead of the four-day hearing at the East of England Showground, Chang also faced allegations that he changed into his police uniform to bypass a queue at Tesco on April 15, 2020. He did not wear PPE.

He then, whilst off-duty engaged with a member of the public and drew out his baton and PAVA spray, which resulted in an innocent bystander being caught by the spray and suffering “short-term harmful effects.”

Chang had no authorisation to be in possession of the PAVA spray.

Following the hearing, which concluded on Thursday (February 2), Chang was dismissed without notice.

Chief Constable Nick Dean said: “The public should be able to trust that police officers will act professionally at all times.

“DC Chang’s actions on two occasions were completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We expect the highest standard of professionalism from our officers, but DC Chang’s conduct has been found to have fallen short of our expectations and in addition, the public would rightly expect that dismissal would be the consequence.”

Last Monday (January 30), another detective- following an unrelated hearing- was also sacked from the force without notice.

James Jordan accessed- without reason- the force’s database used to store indecent images of children and victims of voyeurism and downloaded over 100 indecent images.