THE two police officers who took a video selfie at the site of the Shoreham Airshow crash will not face a public disciplinary hearing, Sussex Police has said.

The new recruits were investigated for gross misconduct after filming the selfie while working at the cordon of the disaster and sending it to a colleague with an offensive messsage.

Today the deputy chief constable said she did not believe they had made an "honest mistake" but instead it was "a deliberate choice to behave in a wholly disrespectful way".

Olivia Pinkney added the "most appropriate" course of action was to deal with the officers using Regulation 13, a process designed to deal with officers on probation.

Each officer will be have to attend a meeting with a chief officer who will look at the evidence and recommend to the chief constable how to deal with them, which could include sacking.   

Ms Pinkney said she had did not believe the officers were "likely to become well conducted constables" based on the evidence she had seen.

She added: "At Sussex Police it's OK to make a mistake and as an organisation we don't punish people for making them honestly.

"However in this case I don't believe this behaviour was an honest mistake, instead it was a deliberate choice to behave in a wholly disrespectful way.

"I would like to apologise again to the victims' families for the unnecessary distress this has undoubtedly caused them."

Ms Pinkney said Regulation 13 was an "entirely appropriate" method for addressing the behaviours of both officers and was in line with Home Office guidance.

She added: "Upholding the highest standards of professional behaviour is of utmost importance to me and my colleagues."