West Mercia Policeman shared racist images

A serving police officer has admitted to sending and receiving images which have been described as being of a racist, homophobic and sexual in nature.

The West Mercia Police officer, whose identity is legally protected, appeared at a force misconduct hearing on Tuesday.

Hannah Hinton, representing the police force, said that the totality of the messages amounted to gross misconduct.

She said that the ‘wholly inappropriate’ messages found on the officer’s personal and work mobile phones were of ‘racist, homophobic and sexual nature’.

Mrs Hinton said that the messages came to light when the unidentified police officer was being investigated over a harassment matter – regarding which no further action was taken.

The misconduct hearing was told that over a period of 23 months the officer sent and received homophobic memes and other content on his personal and work phones, which were largely shared on WhatsApp.

Nine of the photographs were of a female police officer, described as indecent, taken by herself and shared to the accused for his viewing.

“There was no expectation that he would send them onwards to others,” added Mrs Hinton.

She added that some of the content included Nazi and KKK regalia. Mrs Hinton added that there was also ‘inappropriate’ content and images on his work mobile.

The various images and memes had been sent and received between November 2019 and October 2021.

“This was not one-off behaviour, it was consistent,” added Mrs Hinton. “Some of the content was borderline of a criminal nature, including child abuse and violence against women. This content is wholly inappropriate for an officer to have. It must have been clear to this officer that these messages would likely cause offence if they entered the public domain.

“The sheer volume of these messages, he was clearly part of a culture he enjoyed and indulged in. It must have been obvious that it was not appropriate.”

Part of the allegation is relating to a conversation with another employee known as Officer X – who also faces a misconduct hearing.

The pair exchanged social media messages which were described as being of a racist and homophobic nature. Derogatory comments were also made about West Mercia Police colleagues – who the officer was in contact with through work.

The social media conversation took place over a seven-month period between March and October 2021. The officer also faces an allegation of failing to challenge another officer in relation to racist, homophobic and derogatory messages.

“The officer didn’t report the wrongdoing of PC X as he would effectively then had to self-report,” added Mrs Hinton.

Detective inspector Lesley Williams, representing the accused officer, said that he accepted sending and receiving the messages and memes.

The officer said that he didn’t create any images and that those shared were widely circulated on the internet and social media.

“He didn’t intend to cause offence,” said Mrs Williams. “He denies being racist, homophobic or supporting the Nazis or far right.

“He doesn’t believe the images to be discriminatory in nature, but accepts that others might. Some messages used satire language, political comment or was humour amongst friends.”

Nick Hawkins, legally qualified chair of the misconduct hearing panel, said that the officer faced either a written warning, reduction in rank or dismissal from the police force.

The misconduct hearing will resume on Wednesday when the officer will find out his punishment.