Paul Street, 41, was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Wednesday after being found guilty of two counts of misconduct in a public office (MIPO) following a trial in June.
The former officer, who fostered a “toxic” culture among his team, appeared in television crime shows on the BBC and Channel 4, and was known for getting “impressive results” through his “robust” style.
Street headed the southern Neighbourhood Impact Team from Cambourne police station in Cambridgeshire, mainly dealing with county lines drug supply and organised crime.
Street, who quit the force in 2024, encouraged colleagues to “bully” a teenage detainee and asked a workmate to send him a sex video of a female suspect.
Anti-corruption officers uncovered Street’s two WhatsApp groups in 2021 after a new officer reported him.
In messages investigators found on his phone, he encouraged using violence against the boy, 17, including “smash his little head in”.
He also filmed and shared a video of himself using offensive language and making threats that were intended to be shown to the child.
He was convicted of MIPO for those actions and an incident where Street’s colleague, PC Josh Williams, was accessing the contents of a suspected drug dealer’s phone.
The woman had warned the arresting officers that there were private, intimate photos on her phone because she wanted to ensure they were not shared.
In October 2020, Williams, 38, from Huntingdon, messaged Street to tell him about the phone’s content. Street asked Williams if there were “any nudes?”.
The WhatsApp exchange indicated that Williams took a photo of the woman’s camera roll showing numerous images of her in underwear and forwarded this to Street.
Williams also told him about an intimate video on the phone and, six months later, Street messaged Williams asking if he still had the video so he could “show the lads from footy”.
Williams was jailed for 16 months.
Street previously admitted two offences of unlawful disclosure of personal data.
Williams was dismissed after pleading guilty to MIPO last year.
Emily Barry, from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) called Street’s behaviour “appalling and a complete abuse of his position”.
Streets, she said, “encouraged others to join in exchanging inappropriate messages – creating an environment that junior officers would find very difficult to challenge.
“The public would also be shocked at knowing officers shared intimate photos from a woman’s phone without any policing purpose and that Street made a video threatening a child who was detained in custody.
Calling his conduct “inexcusable”, she said Wednesday’s sentences show “officers who commit criminal behaviour risk jail time.”
Eleven other officers were investigated over their conduct arising from the “toxic” culture Street had fostered.
Of those, two resigned, one was dismissed for gross misconduct, one received a final warning, two received written warnings, and five others were dealt with for low-level performance issues.
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