Discriminatory and inappropriate comments made by officers within a WhatsApp group chat – Metropolitan Police Service, Norfolk Constabulary and Civil Nuclear Constabulary, April 2021
In April 2021, a mobile phone, owned by a former Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer, was forensically examined following their arrest for an unrelated offence. The forensic examination identified a WhatsApp group which contained seven members, all who were police officers.
Messages sent by members of the group contained discriminatory and derogatory language about race and ethnicity, women, victims of crime and other individuals.
The mobile phone in question was examined and we analysed more than 6,000 messages. All the messages sent in the WhatsApp group were all reviewed by our investigators. Six officers were investigated under misconduct caution and three were served criminal letters.
There was an indication police officers may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence.
We referred a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), in relation to all messages sent by the officers in the WhatsApp group. The CPS authorised charges against two officers and a former officer.
They appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on 16 March 2022 charged with sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network contrary to section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.
Following a two-day trial held at Westminster Magistrates Court, the former officer was found guilty of five counts and a serving officer, three counts of sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network contrary to section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.
They were sentenced on Wednesday, 2 November 2022. They were given 12-week custodial sentences in November but bailed pending an appeal.
The third officer was cleared of two counts of the same offence.
All six officers were accused of breaching police standards of professional behaviour variously between March 2019 and October 2019 by allegedly sending discriminatory and/or inappropriate messages and failing to challenge or report inappropriate comments made by others.
In December 2022, a gross misconduct hearing organised by the MPS, found the cases proven against all six officers.
Two officers were dismissed without notice and the panel ruled that the four former officers would have been dismissed had they still been serving.
All of them apart from one officer, who is subject to different regulations, will be added to the College of Policing barred list preventing them from future employment with the police service.
They were all found to have breached police standards of professional behaviour for discreditable conduct; authority, respect and courtesy; challenging and reporting improper conduct; and equality and diversity.
We carefully considered whether there were any learning opportunities arising from the investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.
In this case, we issued one learning recommendation.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) publicly outline the action it has taken to improve standards following the conclusion of the various culture related reviews it has commissioned.
This follows an IOPC investigation where a mobile phone, owned by an ex-Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer was forensically examined following their arrest for an unrelated offence. The forensic examination identified a WhatsApp group with six other serving MPS officers which held messages containing discriminatory and derogatory language about race and ethnicity, women, victims of crime and other individuals. Whilst the other six police officers in the group chat were all serving with MPS officers, all the members in the group chat were also former CNC officers.
As one of the threads linking the police officers in the WhatsApp group was their previous employment with the CNC, concerns were raised by the IOPC as to how this reflected on the CNC’s overall working culture and how such views had been allowed to exist amongst its police officers.
The CNC liaised with the IOPC throughout the Operation Argens investigation and subsequently disclosed numerous reviews it had commissioned. Some reviews were carried out internally, but a number of reviews were also carried out externally, by independent third parties. The various reviews commissioned by the CNC focussed on a range of topics, from the broader issue of general CNC working culture to more specific gender reviews and vetting processes. These reviews have informed several changes made by the CNC as well as influencing CNC corporate strategies with regards to officer training, informational materials and the day-to-day activities of CNC officers and staff. If the CNC were to consider releasing the actions it has taken to improve its working culture, it is likely that overall public confidence in the CNC would be improved as a result.
Recommendation accepted
The Civil Nuclear Constabulary provided a response in the form of a PDF document which can be seen here.