Five officers in an elite unit caught making racist, sexist and homophobic remarks have been sacked for their “shameful” conduct.
A covert bug recorded members of Hampshire police’s serious organised crime unit wishing death on foreigners, and an investigation found that part of the office where a black officer worked was called “Africa corner”.
Olivia Pinkney, Hampshire’s chief constable, accepted that the disastrous episode had “undermined the trust and confidence of our communities and damaged the reputations of their colleagues”.
Six officers were last month found guilty of gross misconduct. A discipline tribunal on Friday ruled that three officers who were still serving should be dismissed without notice. They are DS Oliver Lage, DS Gregory Willcox and PC James Oldfield.
Two who have already left the force were told they would also have been sacked if they were still serving. They are the officer in charge of the unit, retired detective inspector Tim Ireson, and former PC Craig Bannerman.
All five would be placed on a list banning them from working in policing.
A sixth officer, trainee DC Andrew Ferguson, who had only recently joined the unit before the investigation started, escaped with a final written warning.
The Guardian understands a complaint from a fellow officer triggered the investigation, and from 9 March and 2 April 2018, a covert listening device was placed in the office where the unit worked.
Opening the case against the six men in October, Jason Beer QC said: “It was a unit that was racist: a black officer is described as a ‘pavement special’, ie a mixed-breed dog. People are described as ‘pikeys’; a black officer is accused of behaving like a colonial overseer running a plantation of white people. When speaking to a black officer, a colleague puts on a fake Caribbean accent – in fact he was from Ghana.”
Beer also told the hearing that the unit was sexist: “Women were called or referred to as ‘whores’, ‘sluts’, ‘sweet tits’ or ‘sugar tits’, ‘Dorises’, ‘a fucking Doris’ … A suspect is called a ‘fucking cunt’. And the officers ponder amongst themselves if a person using the Tannoy system is ‘getting any cock’.”
Handing down the punishments on Friday, John Bassett, the chair of the tribunal, said: “Police officers, whether individually or as a unit, cannot pick and choose which of the standards they will abide by. In particular, it is not open to members of a particular unit to disregard some of the standards in the belief that this makes them more of an effective or cohesive unit.
“In the panel’s opinion, the matters it has found proved are the antithesis of what the public expects and what is clearly set out in the standards of public behaviour.
“The conduct in question was shameful.”
Policing has been under intense scrutiny over its race record.
Hampshire’s chief constable accepted damage had been done and credibility undermined, but pointed out the force had robustly investigated once concerns were raised.
Pinkney said: “These officers have failed to deliver on the promise they made to uphold fundamental human rights and accord equal respect to all people, the oath they declared when they took the office of constable.
“Policing has never before been under so much appropriate scrutiny to ensure an inclusive environment for all our officers and staff to flourish and bring their best.
“There is no place in my force, or in policing more widely, for those who do not live up to this standard.
“These behaviours fell far short of those expected by me. These officers have undermined the trust and confidence of our communities and damaged the reputations of their colleagues who do treat people with respect and uphold the values and standards quite rightly expected by those we police.
“I would hope that the public have seen that we don’t accept this type of behaviour, that when it is raised that we will take action and we will be open and transparent about that, no matter how difficult that may be.”