A high-ranking police officer who headed a crime unit in Huddersfield has been sacked.
Det Chief Supt David Knopwood has been dismissed by West Yorkshire Police for for gross misconduct after being convicted of driving while twice the legal alcohol limit.
Knopwood was banned from driving for 12 months and fined £1,000 at a hearing last month.
Knopwood, who has been a police officer for 24 years, was head of protective services (crime) at West Yorkshire Police, responsible for all major criminal investigations in the force. He was previously the crime manager in the Kirklees Division.
He failed a roadside breath test when he was stopped by officers in Knaresborough on April 28. He admitted refusing to provide a further specimen.
The court was told he told officers he wanted to be taken to hospital because he was not feeling well after banging his head in the police van.
West Yorkshire Police have confirmed an officer had been sacked.
Det Supt Osman Khan said: “Following a recent conviction for drink driving, an officer was dismissed without notice for gross misconduct.
“West Yorkshire Police expects the highest standards of professionalism from all officers and staff and will take appropriate disciplinary action against anyone who fails to meet those standards.”
Magistrates in Harrogate had ordered Knopwood to pay £185 in costs and said his driving ban would be reduced by 12 weeks if he went on a drink-drive awareness course.
The court heard he drank two pints and then provided a roadside reading of 60 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
In mitigation, Knopwood’s lawyer said the Wakefield-based officer had great responsibility at the force and was under a lot of stress.
The former detective was head of the unit responsible for the investigation of major crimes.
He wrote a report into the force’s links with Jimmy Savile which found “no evidence” Savile was protected from arrest due to his ties with the force.
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