A Hatfield police officer videoed pinning a teenager to the ground and threatening to "smash his ****ing head in" has received a slap on the wrist for his actions.

The serving police constable, whose name has been redacted from official reports, was under investigation by the IOPC (Independent Office for Police Conduct) following the incident, which involved a 16-year-old mixed race boy and took place in Stockbridge Road, Hatfield, last July.

The whole incident was captured on camera after a nearby WiFi salesman videoed the arrest on his mobile phone.

In the video, the officer says: “Let go of my hand or I will f**king smash your face in, do you understand?!”

The boy begs a member of the public to stay with him as he is threatened with pepper spray and continually shouted at while being held down on the pavement. His parents eventually arrived on the scene and engaged in a heated exchange with officers.

He was was then taken into custody and strip-searched, where he was found to have nothing on him. He was released without charge.

The former Onslow St Audrey’s student was held in Hatfield police station from approximately 3pm on Tuesday, July 14 until 1.30am on Wednesday.

The boy complained of backache to the custody staff as he has a history of scoliosis, which was treated by Great Ormond Street Hospital when he was a child.

The incident was investigated by Adam Stacey from the IOPC, who initially recommended the PC had a case to answer for misconduct.

However a detailed discussion with Det Ch Supt Martin Brunning, it was decided that the officer could be dealt with by an internal review process known as RPRP.

The Reflective Practice Review Process is designed to give officers and line managers an opportunity to discuss where things have gone wrong and to look for ways of addressing issues. It is not a disciplinary process and it sits above normal management interventions on minor matters.

It is not a misconduct finding and is designed to be a way of dealing with relatively low-level misconduct or performance issues in a proportionate way.

In his report, Mr Stacey said in his opinion the way that the PC spoke to the boy was aggressive, inappropriate and ultimately unlikely to be unhelpful in attempting to calm him down and bring him under control.

He also approached the boy's mother and in a raised voice told her they were entitled to punch him - when they had not actually done so - and ordering her to wind her neck again, again actions considered unhelpful in de-escalating the situation.

Mr Stacey said that during interview the PC did not appear to accept that his language and approach were inappropriate.

In the report, Det Ch Supt Brunning explained his rationale for recommending RPRP: "It is clear that the circumstances put a number of officers into a highly charged and challenging policing interaction with [the boy] and subsequently his parents, with PC ________ engaged with all three people at different times. The incident demonstrates a dynamic set of circumstances with PC ________ at the heart of it.

"The core of the considerations I set out are from circumstances in which, on three occasions, PC ________ uses language or terminology that have in my opinion fallen below the standards the public would expect of a police officer. I however propose that given the dynamism of the situation and speed at which PC ________ was making decisions, RPRP is the most effective and appropriate outcome to enhance to enhance the services of the officer to the public in the future.

"In the investigation report, PC ________ describes how he has probably spent nine months reflecting on the incident. I propose that this is the very essence of an officer who would benefit from the appropriate application of RPRP - to enable proper reflection with a clear pathway of action to enable an officer to recognise their short coming, to have the right skills development and in doing so become a more effective police officer."