Inappropriate content shared on WhatsApp linked to an ongoing murder investigation – Metropolitan Police Service, March 2021

On Thursday 11 March 2021, a serving Metropolitan Police officer forwarded an image to two group chats on the messaging service WhatsApp. The image sent by the officer was in the form of a graphic more commonly referred to as a ‘meme’.

A meme is often represented as a graphic or other image which is intended to be humorous or amusing and may often be a parody or an attempt to comment on important or serious events. Memes can take many forms and can spread very quickly in a short space of time through transmission over the internet and instant messaging.

The meme contained images and words which appeared to be linked to an ongoing police investigation into the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard. The graphic did not contain photographic images or any other material obtained from the investigation into Ms Everard’s death, or images of her.

Several officers who received the meme reported their concerns about the content, believing it was inappropriate for a police officer to share this content.

During our investigation, two further officers were identified as having shared the same content. Our investigation considered the conduct of all three officers.

We specifically investigated, the sharing of inappropriate material by the original sender while he allegedly, was on duty as an officer, and the actions of any other police officers, who may have seen, received or shared the image sent by the officer to determine whether any action taken by those officers was in line with relevant policy, guidance and training.

All three officers co-operated with the investigation and provided written responses in which they admitted sharing the image and explaining their reasons for their actions.

Two officers stated they shared the meme because they believed it was an attempt at humour.

Both officers stated they realised afterwards the content was inappropriate and apologised for their behaviour.

The third officer stated they had been shocked at the content of the meme and had shared it with people they trusted to seek advice on whether they should report the meme as inappropriate.

We reviewed and analysed the content and relevant WhatsApp messages. We obtained statements from officers and compared the evidence against relevant policies and legislation.

Our investigation concluded in August 2021. We waited for associated proceedings attached to linked investigations, to be finalised before we published our findings.

We determined there was an indication that a person serving with the police committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner justifying the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.

We were of the opinion that two officers breached the standards of professional behaviour and that the matters should be considered at a misconduct meeting.

The officer who originally sent the inappropriate content faced an allegation that they did so while on duty at the cordon scene. We concluded the officer did not have a case to answer against this specific allegation. The evidence clearly showed the officer was off duty at the time the message was sent. The officer’s first involvement with Ms Everard’s case was the following day when he assisted with a cordon.

We concluded the third officer could be dealt with appropriately through reflective practice.

An officer reflecting on their actions is a formal process reflected in legislation. The reflective practice review process consists of a fact-finding stage and a discussion stage, followed by the production of a reflective review development report. The discussion must include:

• a discussion of the practice requiring improvement and related circumstances that have been identified, and
• the identification of key lessons to be learnt by the participating officer, line management or police force concerned, to address the matter and prevent a reoccurrence of the matter.

A misconduct meeting was held in April 2022 for the two officers. The panel found misconduct proven for both officers and they were sanctioned with final written warnings.

The panel remarked on one officer’s attempt to minimise the matter and not accept their behaviour justifies a misconduct sanction.

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.

For this investigation, we did not issue any learning recommendations.