Justice must be seen to be done. That is a central tenet of our legal system, because without transparency there is no trust.

Our courts are held in public because, without scrutiny there is a greater risk of miscarriages and corruption. And, put simply, how can people trust things are being done right if they can't see it?

Yet the same princples are not applied to our police forces themselves. Police misconduct hearings are often held in public, but not always. That needs to change.

Three senior officers at Gwent Police are facing serious misconduct charges next month. 

Chief Superintendent Marc Budden, Chief Superintendent Mark Warrender and Chief Inspector Paul Staniforth all face allegations of gross misconduct, which they deny.

Chief Supt Warrender is alleged to have inapporpriately touched someone. Chief Supt Budden faces allegations he failed to disclose evidence or a conflict of interest, provided dishonest accounts of his conduct and attempted to improperly influence the misconduct and criminal investigation. You can read the full allegations here. 

Yet the hearing will be held in private, after the accused and Gwent Police requested it to be so. The decision was made by the independent chair of the hearing, not the force, but they pushed for it.

For the force, the motivation was to protect the victim and the fear of people not coming forward to report such incidents in future. While this can be understood, it misses the wider point.

This is not a criminal hearing. The Crown Prosecution Service brought no charges against the officers. But failing to follow the principle of open justice gives the impression of cover up. It makes the public feel that the force is either protecting 'its own' who are alleged to have done wrong, or hiding its culture and practices from scrutiny.

The force would say that the accused are not being protected, that their names and the allegations are public, and that a statement on the outcome of the hearing will be made public.

But the culture within our police force is crucial. The current leadership of Gwent Police may well have acted with good intentions in calling for a private hearing. But how do we know if such hearings are held behind closed doors? We can't just take it on trust. The job of the police is too important for that.

Of course we need to protect the victims in a case such as this, but we need to maintain transparency too and should not apply a lower standard or principle to the police than we do to the courts.

This hearing should be in public. And the system needs reform to ensure this cannot happen again.