West Yorkshire Police have sacked five serving officers and said three former colleagues would have faced dismissal over a WhatsApp group that exhibited “routine misogyny” and “casual racism”. A number of officers based at Pudsey were let go, after photographs of “death scenes,” missing people, car crashes, and detainees were distributed along with disparaging comments about members of the public. The men, including Sgt Mark Otter, PC Dominique Hawkins, PC Javaid Habeeb, PC Luke Riddett, and an unnamed officer identified only as PC X, denied gross misconduct. The disciplinary panel also stated that former constables Tom Harrison, Matthew Harrison, and Lee Hillyard would have been fired if they hadn’t already quit.
Olivia Checa-Dover, a barrister representing the police authority, said that the chat comprised “mean-spirited and bullying remarks about colleagues and members of the public.” She went on to describe derogatory messages as having exchanged concerning photos of an officer’s sister, with PC Riddett making an inappropriate and victim-blaming comment during a conversation. The tribunal, held in Bradford’s Trafalgar House, heard that PC X had written “jump, jump, jump” about a member of the public, and PC Habeeb joked about a colleague committing suicide. Meanwhile, Ms Checa-Dover said that Sgt Otter had made sexually offensive remarks during a chat about “naked Uno.”
Commissioners dismissed the conspirators, stating that failure to challenge and complicity on the part of the nine, including a supervisor, allowed for a nature of office casual racism, bullying, and routine misogyny to develop. Det Ch Supt Tanya Wilkins, Head of the Professional Standards Directorate of the West Yorkshire Police, expressed her views on the hearing after the fact. Independent Office for Police Conduct regional director Emily Barry said that the behavior exposed in the case had “no place in policing” and that the investigation had meant that the most egregious perpetrators would “never again wear the uniform.
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