A GREENOCK-based police officer has been suspended amid an internal misconduct investigation – making him the third PC in recent weeks to be stood down from active duties in Inverclyde.

Two officers were suspended previously after being charged with falsifying witness statements in an alleged bid to cover up a reported domestic assault.

The Telegraph can now report that another male officer, who operates out of the Rue End Street base, has been temporarily removed from frontline service due to an ongoing workplace probe.

Police Scotland confirmed that the officer is currently suspended ‘pending the outcome of an internal misconduct investigation’.

Greenock police stationGreenock police station (Image: George Munro)

The force did not provide further details on the nature of the claims against the PC.

A sheriff court hearing last week was told that the PC – named in charges against a man accused of kicking and spitting at police officers and claiming he had Covid – was due to be a witness in the case at a trial.

READ MORE: Port Glasgow woman headbutted officer after pensioner mother was Tasered by police

However, procurator fiscal depute Kirstin Brierley said that the constable could not provide evidence as ‘he has been suspended’.

We told earlier this month about separate legal proceedings involving a pair of PCs accused of neglecting or violating their duties.

Kevin Montgomery and Connor Beggs are said to have entered false information into Police Scotland records following reported 'attacks' at the Arnold Clark dealership in Greenock in August 2021.

The constables, aged 33 and 30, allegedly failed to conduct a full and thorough investigation into the incidents at the East Hamilton Street premises and attempted to pervert the course of justice by implicating two men for a crime that the officers knew they did not commit.

It is claimed that the accused duo falsified witness statements from a man and a woman, attempted to conceal the existence of CCTV footage showing the alleged assaults, and submitted a standard prosecution report to the procurator fiscal with information which they knew to be false.

READ MORE: HMP Greenock a ‘decent and humane environment’ for prisoners, inspectors find

Last week, we also reported that a police officer who Tasered an innocent pensioner in Port Glasgow during a disturbance allegedly involving a knife last year will not face criminal prosecution.

An allegation of assault had been made against the officer, however, no charges have been brought following a full review of the incident.

Ward one Conservative councillor David Wilson, who chairs the local authority’s police and fire scrutiny panel, told the Telegraph that he would not be raising the issue of the local force being left without a trio of serving officers with Police Scotland’s area commander for Inverclyde as it is an operational matter.

However, Cllr Wilson said that colleagues on the scrutiny panel may wish to discuss the situation at the next meeting later this year.