Investigation into officers allegedly viewing racist and offensive material – Civil Nuclear Constabulary, September 2022

An anonymous report submitted through a whistleblowing site in September 2022 alleged that Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) officers had viewed and laughed at a racist video on the phone of one of the officers while on-duty. There was insufficient evidence at the time to support the allegations. 

A video and audio recording was later provided by the informant that appeared to support the report. Officers were identified from these recordings by another officer. 

We decided to independently investigate the conduct of the officers in June 2023. We looked at what evidence there was that this incident took place in a communal place between on-duty officers, whether the comments were discriminatory or offensive, and whether officers failed to challenge and/or report the comments made during or after the viewing of the video.

We also investigated whether the officers acted honestly and with integrity during our investigation, and whether they complied with local and national policies, procedures, guidance and legislation. We examined their training in relation to discrimination against people with protected characteristics and the Standards of Professional Behaviour expected of a police officer. 

We interviewed each of the officers. They exercised their right to remain silent during these interviews. 

During the investigation, there was insufficient evidence that any police officer may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence. 

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. 

We did not identify any organisational learning in this case.