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PC Jack Harrison reportedly entered the woman’s car registration into the Police National Computer (PNC) to find her details so he could follow her on Instagram, reacting to three of her stories with flame and heart-eye emojis.

Pc Harrison, of Derbyshire Police, denies misconduct and told a hearing on Thursday that he looked up the registration number with the PNC because he suspected the woman’s car was involved in crime, and that it later turned up as a ” suggested follower” on the social media platform.

During a hearing at Derbyshire Police headquarters in Ripley, the whistleblower, who was granted anonymity by the chairman’s panel, said she first noticed a police officer while the couple were at a co-op in Wirksworth, Derbyshire. , on September 28, 2021.

As she was driving back to work, she claimed that PC Harrison followed her for a short time in his patrol car, but acknowledged that there was no physical contact.

He later realized that Pc Harrison had followed his public account at the time on the platform.

Giving evidence, he said, “I recognized him as the police officer I saw at the cooperative.”

Asked how this made her feel, David Ring, the force’s representative, said: “(I thought) it was a very strange coincidence, and more or less, how did this happen?

“I wondered if the plates could have been processed to get my name.”

Mr. Ring asked, “Overall, how did you feel about this situation and what happened?”

The woman replied: “At the time, I was more concerned with whether my license plates had been checked (and) what information someone could get out of that.

“It was a very, very worrying situation and it made me feel a little nervous about what had happened.”

During cross-examination by Steven Reed, representing Pc Harrison, the woman said that while she made her account private due to her concerns, she did not block the officer as a friend’s mother, who was also a police officer, had advised. official, before reporting the matter to the police.

Pc Harrison, who joined the force in January 2019 after serving as a special agent for three years, is alleged to have violated standards of professional conduct regarding honesty and integrity, confidentiality and dishonorable conduct.

Giving his testimony, he said he did not see the woman at the cooperative and denied the claim that he saw her get into his car before following her.

Instead, he told Mr. Reed that he first saw the car when he believed the driver, whom he could not make out, was “too fast” as he was leaving the Cooperative, giving him a police purpose for the subsequent check. from the PNC.

He said: “I had (a) suspicion that he might be used in the crime or involved in the crime.”

He added: “I still believe the vehicle was traveling too fast in the parking lot at the time.”

After the PNC check turned up no concerns, he stopped following the woman’s car, he said.

While that check was the only one he did that day, Pc Harrison said there was “no other reason for PNC to check another vehicle.”

Pc Harrison said he later followed the woman on Instagram when it was suggested he follow her and he did so because they had “more than 30 mutual friends”, something he did with different people on a daily basis.

He said he did not recall reacting to the photos of the woman, but believed he did so because he thought they were attractive.

He estimated that he reacted to people’s Instagram posts with emoji about 10 times a day across a variety of accounts, including men’s, women’s and business accounts, and followed more than 1,000 people on the platform.

Later, Ring asked why, if the threshold for a PNC check was as low as someone speeding in a parking lot, no other checks were made that day.

He asked: “Isn’t it really that you actually didn’t suspect the car, there was nothing remarkable about the driver, and you really just wanted the details about the driver?”

“That is incorrect,” Pc Harrison replied.

The hearing, which will determine whether Pc Harrison is guilty of gross misconduct and is expected to conclude on Friday, continues.