Met Police officers ‘shared racist Meghan Markle gag and homophobia in Whatsapp’
Three Metropolitan Police officers shared a racist joke about Meghan Markle, as well as other "racist, homophobic, sexist, ableist and Islamaphobic" messages, on a Whatsapp group chat, a tribunal heard.
The officers and ex-officer are before a Metropolitan Police Misconduct Hearing.
It was also claimed that PCs Sukhdev Jeer and Paul Hefford, as well as former PC Richard Hammond, did not challenge or report the other officers after the allegedly offensive messages were received.
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The allegations amount to gross misconduct, thus they will be sacked if they are proven.
The three officers were all part of a unit at Bethnal Green Police Station. Their Whatsapp group, called “But They Promised”, was active between January and December 2018.
Vishal Misra, of the Met, quizzed PC Jeer this afternoon (June 29) over an image of a Golliwog toy captioned: “A sneak preview at Meghan’s wedding dress.”
The Golliwog is a black, doll-like character with frizzy hair and big red lips that appeared in children's books in the late 19th century.
The original books described it as “a horrid sight, the blackest gnome” and it has since come to represent a racist caricature of black people.
PC Jeer responded to the tribunal by saying he did not find it funny, even at the time.
“The fact that someone is out there can create this, that is not a nice thing to do but I posted this on the group not to laugh at it but [to show] that there are people out there who still do this and find it funny,” he said.
The tribunal heard how PC Jeer also shared a picture of a young boy in a hoodie captioned “monkey in the jungle” with a penis superimposed.
Another meme, this time put to PC Hefford, was of “two black men lying next to two white women” with the caption: “Girls’ trip to Jamaica. One came back pregnant, the other came back with syphilis. (Just kidding, they're both still missing.)”
PC Hefford was asked why that was funny, to which he said: “In general, Jamaica is known to not be a safe place to go out on your own.
“There is a quite big gang community there and they do kidnap people. So it’s just a play on words. Just a silly meme”, the tribunal heard.
He went on to admit it could be "considered" offensive, adding: “If you are going to take the racial sort of side of it it’s inappropriate from that point of view.
“It’s perception isn’t it? People’s perception of different things.”
PC Hefford was also confronted with another meme which read: “Everyone is so politically correct these days. You can’t even say, ’Black paint,’ you have to say, “Tyrone can you please paint that wall?”
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He explained to the tribunal: “It’s having a go at political correctness, isn’t it?
“People say political correctness has gone mad and it’s a play on that.”
He went on to say that "acceptable humour" has changed from 2018 to today, citing now-removed scenes from Only Fools and Horses and Faulty Towers as evidence.
Former PC Hammond was alleged to have sent a "discriminatory message" about the London borough of Tower Hamlets.
"In explaining the message, former PC Hammond in effect said that people from the Bangladeshi community seem to accept election fraud as part of their democratic processes," Mr Misra said.
Former PC Hammond accepted a message he sent was "wrong and racist" adding: "This is one that I'm really kind of ashamed of.
"It is not something that I would defend more than giving context."
The tribunal continues.
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