Entire department has to quit remote work because some have used a ploy to feign productivity

One of the perks of working from home is not having your boss constantly looking over your shoulder. No one's gonna come over and hover behind us to check what we're doing on the computer or if we're even there, as long as the monitoring tools aren't too intrusive. Employees in one of the police departments in the UK took advantage of this gap, and now everyone has to return to the office (see Mein MMO).

Employees faked activity during remote work

According to The Register, citing Greater Manchester Police and Durham Constabulary, 26 cops, staff, and contractors got in trouble because their devices showed some weird typing patterns during work. The investigation revealed that unidentified objects were used to press keys to simulate continuous work.

The internal investigation within the police department lasted for many months, and one former detective, Niall Thubron, was banned from employment in the UK police. It was reported that "the officer jammed his computer keyboard to make it look as if the computer was in use and he was working, when he wasn't."

It was shown that Thubron faked work 38 times over 12 days between December 2024 and January 2025. The scale of actions varied, as there were instances where 30 presses of the "h" key were detected, and other times 16,000 presses of the "i" key.

At the same time, the police department isn't saying if anyone got fired because of what they did. The mentioned officer, Niall Thubron, reportedly resigned from the police force back in May of this year while the investigation was still ongoing.

In this case, going back to work at the office seems like the least of the punishments, but what Deputy Chief of Police Terry Woods said hints that the consequences could be much harsher:

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