Former Inspector sacked for working at World Cup during "career break"

We’ve sacked a former officer who dishonestly undertook work at the Qatar World Cup while claiming to be on a career break.

Former Inspector Tariq Butt, who was based at our Sedgley Park officer training complex, was today (19 September) barred from policing following an investigation conducted by our Anti-Corruption Unit directed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Following a three-day hearing, the disciplinary panel led by a legally qualified chair concluded that former Insp Butt would have been dismissed had he not already resigned from the force.

The hearing was told that in 2022 he had applied for a three-year career break from the force stating he would not work and would be financially supported by his family.

Our dedicated unit for professional standards received indication that he had taken on a role as a contracted security advisor for the Qatari police around the time of the 2022 football World Cup.

We referred to the matter to the IOPC who have directed our investigation which has led to today’s conclusion.

Butt is now one of more than 100 officers be dismissed from the force since Chief Constable Stephen Watson was appointed in March 2021 and pledge to ‘root out and boot out’ officers not fit to wear the uniform.

We are keen to ensure the people of GM can have confidence in their police force, and over the last two years we have tripled the rate in which we’ve been dismissing officers whose actions risk undermining this trust.

Detective Superintendent Steve Keeley, of our Anti-Corruption Unit, said: “It is clear that the actions of Tariq Butt demonstrated a complete disregard for the values of honesty and trust that we and the public rightly expect of our officers.

“He blatantly breached these values for his own personal gain and left the panel no option but to dismiss him from the force. If we cannot trust his actions then we certainly cannot expect the public to do so either.

“The discreditable conduct of officers like Butt undermine the professionalism and hard-work of thousands of officers across Greater Manchester every day, and we will continue to leave no stone unturned in pursuing  those who breach our standards.”