Met police officer dismissed for testing positive for cannabis while on duty

PC Donna Blackwood was drug tested whilst on duty as there was a “reasonable suspicion of substance misuse”.

A POLICE OFFICER has been dismissed from London’s Metropolitan Police for using cannabis.

PC Donna Blackwood was stationed in Southwark, south London.

In a three-day hearing in front of a disciplinary board, it was alleged that she had tested positive for cannabis whilst on duty on Monday 16 November 2015.

Blackwood was tested “with cause”, which is a test performed “where there is a reasonable suspicion of substance misuse”.

The hearing said that the officer had a case to answer as her behaviour constituted “discreditable conduct” and raised questions around her “fitness for duty”.

It was found that she had breached the Met’s standards of professional behaviour in a manner so serious it amounted to “gross misconduct”.

A panel decided that the appropriate sanction was immediate dismissal.

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