THREE Notts Police officers have been given written warnings over the treatment of a heavily pregnant woman arrested and handcuffed for 11 hours.
It comes after a case of gross misconduct was proven following a two-day force hearing this week into the treatment of Lynnette Wallace, 43.
The force said an inspector and a sergeant had been given a final written warning and another sergeant had been given a written warning over the incident.
The Aspley woman was seven-and-a-half-months pregnant when she was arrested in July 2011 and taken to the Bridewell custody suite in Nottingham.
Yesterday, Miss Wallace said she was "disgusted" that no officers had been sacked.
She had said she was subjected to unnecessary force during her arrest.
The hearing was told that she was assessed as being at risk of self harming, had her upper clothing removed and was left naked from the waist up for 13 minutes.
She was also put in handcuffs for 11 hours.
She was later charged with offences but these were later dropped.
The mother-of-seven went into premature labour three days after she was released and her daughter Charna was born ten weeks early, weighing 3lb 3oz.
Miss Wallace's case was later taken up by a London firm of solicitors and referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), as previously reported in the Post.
Notts Police referred her complaint to the IPCC in October 2011.
The IPCC ruled that an independent investigation was necessary.
In March this year, the force received the IPCC's report and its findings, which upheld two of the five complaints that had been made.
The force said these were that Miss Wallace, inappropriate to her condition, was left in handcuffs for exceptional periods of time, and there was a "failure to provide her with adequate information to enable her to provide officers with details to allow effective childcare, adding to her distress".
The IPCC also recommended that a number of officers should face charges of gross misconduct and misconduct.
The three officers appearing at the misconduct hearing, which ended at around 9pm on Thursday, had supervisory roles at the time of the incident.
Miss Wallace said: "When I heard the findings of gross misconduct, it felt like someone was finally listening and had believed me. To then hear that the police officers would keep their jobs anyway was a shock."
Her solicitor, Carolynn Gallwey, of Bhatt Murphy, said: "The decision by Notts Police to keep them in the force sends an extremely worrying message to the people they serve."
Detective Superintendent Jackie Alexander, head of the Notts Police Professional Standards Directorate, said: "On this occasion, mistakes were made. The officers got it wrong and received formal discipline sanctions for their actions. We apologise to the complainant for this fact.
"The force also acknowledges the challenging nature of the work of officers and staff responsible for custody, which often involves them having to make dynamic, fast-time decisions relating to people's welfare.
"In November 2011, the force implemented a rigorous audit procedure into our custody suites and identified several of the organisational learning issues highlighted by the IPCC investigation, which it received in March this year. These have since been addressed.
"We accept the IPCC's findings and are acting robustly to rectify all issues, which have been highlighted, while ensuring that we regularly review and continually seek to improve the service we deliver."
